ARCA
by Seiker Hikaru
Summary: "When shadows of the past gather, some would chose to run. These shadows must not be feared. Face them head on, push forward no matter the trials, for if you wish to truly move forward, the past must be faced and acknowledged in the present. Only then can one grasp their future with both hands, when the trials of the present from the past have finally been faced."
1. Chapter 1

**ARCA**

 **Chapter 1: Azure**

" _They say you die a hero or live long enough to become the villain. But what if the inverse was also true? Either you die the villain, or live long enough to become the hero. So keep on going, press forward, and break your chains in order to claim a brighter future made by your own two hands."_

* * *

His mind was racing in absolute confusion as his heavy feet dragged along the ground. The sound of scraping was present in his ears, his right hand loosely clutching to a damaged sword as his arm hung down, the blade dragging along the concrete with each step. The place that hurt the most on his bruised, cut, and bloody body though, was just at his right eye. He couldn't see out of it because the cut that hit the eyelid was causing blood to seep into it, and marring the pale skin of his face on the right side red, matting his gradated dark blue hair there onto his cheek. His open left eye, showing behind the waving strand of hair was a shining silver, darting around in tune to his jumbled and confused mind.

What had happened to the boy before now hadn't helped this confusion. If anything, it had only been worse. Names… all he could remember right now were names. Salem, Ashe, Cinder… Azure Aquarion. The last one stuck out to him the most… it felt strong to him, important. Was it his name? It had to be. Amid the mess that was all he could make sense of right now. The only thing that was solid amid the onrush of information in his mind were those names, the sounds of clashing weapons, and the panic he still held.

" _You can run now, but when I find you again, I promise… you won't have a choice anymore! You'll realize who's side you should be on soon enough!"_

The image he flashed to was blurry, hard for him to make sense of. He could remember the steel of the sword sparking against his own, and bright amber eyes behind black hair glaring at him from so close up they were all he could see.

It was then that his legs finally gave way. The weapon in his loose grip clattered to the ground as he finally fell. He barely managed to keep himself from faceplanting, but his tired, weak arms barely helped, instead only making sure he didn't fall so hard he broke his nose. He was at least able to turn onto his back, but not like it helped.

"Can't… move…" The words struggled their way out of his mouth, the sour taste of blood in his mouth as his lips finally parted. His open eye shifted as he angled his head, his gaze falling to the moon above. He didn't know the date, but he could easily tell it was late. But… that was the strange part.

What _was_ the date? There was this gap in his mind… when he pulled up his arm, it was the grown, slender limb of a teenager… but his mind pulled to otherwise. He could hardly recall it but something was wrong… what was the last thing he could recall before that fight?

He'd been taken somewhere… someplace dark, and there was a woman, a terrifying one, but her voice had been warm… unsettlingly so. Something… she'd said something to him.

" _Do not be afraid child… you'll see the truth soon enough. I just need to do a little…_ convincing _to your young mind."_

Then it just became pain, like something deep inside of him was being pulled away and broken… then it all just went black. It had become like a dream, one with only a few moments of lucid thought where it seemed like things had made sense… but as soon as they had, something had grabbed hold of him, a shadow that pulled him back into senseless, timeless thought.

But then… there'd been a thread of white in front of him. A thread that had grown and expanded into a flash of silver that cast away the shadow, that made his mind clear.

" _What… what's going on?! Where I am I?!"_

It had been desperation. He didn't know how to react, and he'd had a weapon in his hands. His first impulse had been to defend himself, no, more accurately, to attack what seemed like an opponent who had been in front of him.

" _Ashe you… you'd actually betray me!?"_

" _That's not my name! It's… it's not my name!"_

"My name is… my name is…"

A pain groan left his throat as he rolled back over, forcing himself up as much as he could, his right hand grabbing at the fallen sword to his side, driving it onto the concrete as a crutch to push himself up. But, the blade's tip then only tilted forward, a screeching sound cutting the air as the blade slipped forward, the boy falling to the ground again as he lost the weight to prop himself up on.

"Dammit… not here I can't… I can't stop here… not until I…"

His arms gave way as he tried to force himself up again, sparks of pain shooting up his arms as he felt sharp, unpleasant _cracks_ at his fingers, a warm feeling of blood welling at his fingertips. He must've cracked his fingernails doing that.

He was also exhausted though, enough he felt his open eye starting to go heavy as his vision went darker.

"What the… hey, you alright?!"

Ah, a voice… it was dull in his ears and sounded faint, but he could see the person running towards him. The voice was familiar to him, somehow, he couldn't remember why at the moment. After the person reached him, he felt hands gently grab him and roll him over, but aside from being able to tell it was a man, he couldn't make out their face that well.

"What the, are you… you're Azure! No way… crap, I'll call Cyan later. I need to get you to a hospital. Hey, kid, stay with me!"

"I'm… I'm okay… just, tired…" The boy forced the words out, though he already felt himself slipping away as he was lifted off of the ground.

* * *

His eye snapped open in a sudden shock, and he shot upright instantly, feeling cold sweat on his brow. Despite the confusion still wracking his mind though, things became clear quickly enough. From the soft feeling below him, he knew he was one a bed. A quick look around revealed he was in a hospital room. A curtain to his left obscured the opposite side of the room, and the sun was shining in through the window to his right. He had to move quite a bit to actually _see_ to his right though, and his hand went up to the bandages wrapping around his head and covering his right eye. There was even more wrapped around his arms, and on his chest, just visible below the hospital gown covering his body.

Impulse told him he should get up to see what was going on. Reason told him not to. He picked reason.

Instead drawing back to the curtain, it showed he was alone in the room, for now at least. His left arm had patches on it, hooked up to a beeping heart monitor. He grabbed the wires and pulled them off, ignoring the monitor flatlining, yanking it over and shutting the thing off.

"Okay just… stay calm, and think." He let out a breath as he flexed his right fingers while holding that hand's wrist in his left hand. "Okay okay… so, it was like I woke up from some weird dream and… and then I got into a fight with… with some person named Cinder… wait, what's with my voice?! When did it get deep like this?!"

That feeling of panic settled in again, and he scrambled to the side, his still weak legs causing him to fall flat to the floor as he tried to get off the bed too quickly. Holding his head as he pulled on the stand near the bed to get himself standing full, that was the _first_ thing he realized, was how much taller he was. As he looked down at his body, he realized he _hadn't_ been seeing things. There was a glint out of the corner of his left eye, and he scrambled to the stand to see that a hand mirror was sitting on it. Odd thing to have in a hospital room but right now it was like a godsend.

There was some hesitation to it, but, he grabbed the mirror quickly. He was slow about it as he raised it up, but eventually his face came into full view, and his uncovered eye went wide in shock. For a brief moment, he saw the face he _remembered,_ a young one, barely even eleven years old… but then it properly showed.

Looking back at him was a teenager whose expression was scared and confused. Still bearing some of the androgyny of childhood in the thin features he had, while hair that reached his shoulders shrouded other parts, the color of it a deep blue that gradated to a paler shade at the tips. Skin as pale as snow, and while his right eye was covered by bandages, the other was clearly visible, bright silver and with a sharp shape, having a little beauty mark at its bottom corner.

"What?!" After it had all processed, he reeled back, the mirror flying from his hands as he jumped back, the sound of cracking glass accompanying the _thud_ that came with the boy landing on the floor, his breathing shallow and rapid. He crept back over to the now cracked mirror as he felt his heart pounding in his chest, and the image hadn't changed even with the shattered reflection it now had. "That's… that's me?! When did… I don't… why don't I remember anything past that?!"

Azure clutched his head as his attempt made his head start to throb, blurry ideas passing through like a whirlwind, but nothing clear came to mind at all. It passed as soon as it began, but all it did was leave him even more confused than before. When he heard the door slide open, the boy instinctively dove around to the other side of the bed, cautiously peering up to see who was there.

"Ugh, come on kid, there's no need to be _that_ paranoid." A gravelly, tired sounding voice… the same one Azure had heard before passing out… but now, now he recognized it, it was actually familiar.

"… Qrow?"

"Ah, good, you do remember me. Heh, hey there kid, been a while. Looks like you're holding up okay."

"W…what's going on?"

"I could be asking you the same thing." The teenager stood up slowly as the man took a chair, the disheveled man called Qrow leaning on a hand as the bandaged-up teen stared at him. "Though I'm sure you've got as many questions to ask as me, considering it _has_ been five years."

"Five… five years?! H-How?!"

"Okay kid, relax for a moment and don't go freaking out on me. Let's start off easy. So now, what do you remember?"

"Well… my name is Azure… Azure Aquarion. And…"

* * *

 _ **One year later…**_

It was the twilight in the city of Vale, and deep into the old district of the city, where none went at this time and abandoned buildings had long since become the dens of those keeping under the eye of the law, a sole figure was moving across the rooftops, coming to a stop across from a building with lights on, that by no means _should_ have had lights on.

"Well well, Spanner's info is as accurate as always."

The figure chuckled and with a small press as their hand slid under the hood of his coat, goggles flickered on into a blue gleam as he went prone at the lip of the building he was on, scanning the exterior of the lit building, another press changing the mode of the goggles from low-light to thermal vision, letting him see the moving bodies within the walls. Though the display also glitched out for a moment. Azure smacked the device a couple times, and it went back to how he wanted.

"Hmm… pretty vague from over here but let's see… six, maybe eight guys? There might be more where I can't see them."

Another press turned the goggles off, and while pulling them up, the individual smoothly made his way down to the streets, the street light illuminating his form as he lowered his hood, revealing the face of Azure behind its shadow.

The past year had left quite a bit on him when it came to his appearence. The scar over his right eye had healed well enough it was little more than a barely noticeable mark only seen by the nick in his eyebrow without close observation, running from the upper right of the forehead to the cheekbone. His previous wild and long hair was cut shorter in some places but kept long in others, particularly in a long bit that sat over his left shoulder, while some portions of his bangs hung longer near his right eye than the left, everything else in messy, finger combed layers, really only kept pressed down by the black framed goggles being on his head.

He was clothed in a half zipped-up dark blue hooded jacket, a single, small spaulder worked onto the left shoulder, and sleeves that left his forearms exposed, while his hands were covered with fingerless gloves. A dark grey half-cape the same shade as the shirt under the jacket came down from his left shoulder, connected at the spaulder. At his waist, a dark red double-bandolier, marked in a metal, jagged symbol like an arrowhead at the skewed "buckle", that all sat over black pants with light armor on the knees, the pants tucked into black military style boots tightly laced up, but seemingly of a lighter make than the norm. And hanging from the bandolier were two objects, one a holster containing an unseen but folded up weapon, while crossed over that was a dark-blue, metal structure of some kind barely the size of his forearm, and jutting from that, the visible hilt of another weapon that was black and marked in blue, and both the leather holster and metal device were marked by the same arrow-head symbol that was on his belt.

"So how to make my entrance? There should be a back entrance. Is the fire escape intact?" Azure's mumbling was cut off by a ringing. Reaching into his pocket and pulling out his dark blue Scroll, he pulled the closed device open, sighing a bit as he saw the number on its screen, even as he answered and brought it to his ear. "Hey Qrow, what's the deal?"

" _Just checking in kid. So, you at the spot Spanner said to go to?"_

"Seedy building in the old town district, yeup. Lights are on, just like he said they'd be. I'm gonna sneak in, I'll call you back when I'm done."

" _Just try to make it back to Signal before curfew. I don't want Tai on my ass again because you spent too long wandering around. Remember, I'm only allowing you to do this stuff because I know you can handle it."_

"Ah don't worry, I'll be quick." Azure hung up with that remark, pulling his hood back up before dashing across the street and into the alley at the building's right. As he'd hoped, when he went to the back, the fire escape was well and intact, if clearly in need of some serious maintenance that it would definitely not be receiving.

Eschewing going in through any of the lower doors, Azure took the steps up to the topmost door of the building, slowly opening it and peering in, seeing nothing but crates stacked up across the area. Creeping in and quietly closing the door, he crouched down and took cover behind the crates as he slid across them to the edge of the upper struts.

"Hm, must've been a storage building." Sliding down to a prone position again, Azure could clearly see that, below him, his initial guess was close, but not quite _that_ close. There were a dozen men wandering around on the lower parts of the building, moving between the other walkways or milling around at the tables stacked with clearly ill-gotten gains. But what caught Azure's eyes was the map near two of the men. Placing his goggles back on, he used them to zoom in on the map. "Map of Vale. Let's see… each of those marks cover… Dust shops, the docks, scribbles over the police precincts… yeup, definitely Torchwick."

Hearing footsteps beginning to near him, Azure smirked as he swept his goggles up off of his face, quietly moving back to a more advantageous spot, waiting until he saw the thug come into view and pass him, a smirk coming to his face as his hands went to the stowed away weapons at his waist.

"Show time."

For the men below, what they heard first for the signs of trouble greeting them was the sounds of breaking wood, and the man above being slammed into the railing of the topmost level before he was sent flying off and to the bottom by a solid kick. Azure stood where the man had been kicked down from, setting his right hand weapon across his shoulder while the other was loosely held as he leaned on the bent railing. In his right hand, a single edged sword with a blue body and black edge, bearing no guard at its hilt but with notable exhaust ports along the spine. While in his left, another blade of similar length to the first, the blade silver in color while a dark blue mechanical frame marked the lower segment of the weapon, and at Azure's index finger on the equally mechanical hilt sat a trigger.

"Well now that leaves eleven. So, hands up! Who wants to just save the trouble and tell me what Torchwick is up to huh?"

His reply was to have every weapon in the building being pointed at him. Azure sighed as he stepped back from the rail and behind cover as bullets began flying, a flick of his wrist causing his left-hand sword to change. The lower frame folded out, and the blade pulled back while the grip went to an angle, converting it from a blade into a gun, Azure tucking his other sword under his arm as he reached to his bandolier and then shoved a clip into the gun's side.

"Hard way it is!"

A flicker of white light appeared at Azure's left eye as he snickered. Once the rain of bullets ceased, he shot out and jumped over the railing, flipping his right-hand sword into a reversed hold as he aimed with his firearm. The weapon was swept through the air as he descended, forcing the men below to dive to cover of their own amid the hail of bullets. Azure landed heavily on one of the tables, using the momentum that leaned it upwards to jump back, a burst of white feather shaped drifts following the motion as he shot towards one of the thugs, tripping the man as he skid across the floor before slashing down with his sword, a gleam of white energy pulsing across the blade as he brought it down.

Though since it was still ten on one, weapons had been reloaded and were ready to fire again. Azure knew this was coming though. A shimmer of white flickered across his form for a moment, then he took his sword and shoved it into the ground at his feet as white pulses shot across it, those pulses then turning into a dome of light that stopped every bullet that crashed into it, though cracks quickly began shooting across it, and Azure dove behind the metal crates that were nearby as it broke.

"Shit! Still not that good with that one. Well… I'm even worse with this next one, but, it'll work at the least!" Azure let out a breath, another shimmer going across him. He then changed his firearm back into it's sword mode, and pressed a switch on the hilt of his other sword, a slot opening on the spine, which he then shoved a blue colored cartridge into, slapping it shut, the edge of the sword changing to match the cartridge that had been inserted while the air around the blade began to grow cold, mist rising from the weapon, while the other sword gained flickers of blue flames across its edge when Azure grabbed it again.

Once the hail of bullets finally stopped again, Azure leapt out. He took the brief moment to count… four to the left, five to the right, and one directly in front of him. His swords followed suit on the slashes that came from them. From his right sword, a wave of ice that shot uncontrollably forward, catching three of the thugs in its path as they yelled, the ice climbing up the wall. From his left sword, following up the previous slash, a blaze was let out from the blade, dispersing the four to the right in the torrent of fire. Azure slid under one of the tables and to some that had been overturned, that white shimmer going over his body again before he shot back up.

First, he ducked back behind the wall of ice that had been made. One of the frozen thugs was still able to draw his weapon, attempting to fire it, but Azure slammed him with his left sword, a ring sounding through the air as he pulled the trigger, knocking the thug free of the ice but leaving him on the ground in a heap. The other two trapped thugs became quick stepping stones for Azure, using kicks to knock them out as he leapt towards the other two, dodging the attempted slash from one's blade, his body flickering away for a moment before he appeared again behind the other. Both wemt down as he slashed with his right sword, a wave of frozen air coming from the blade and sticking them to the wall. He used the sword again to create a wall of ice when the rest of the men tried firing on him, flicking his left sword back into gun form, his body shimmering again and lacing the weapon with sparks of electricity.

Each bullet that was fired as he shot back out was like small bolt of lightning. The thugs who were hit by them were quickly sent to the ground in spasms, now leaving just the one. Azure put his firearm over his shoulder as he turned to look at the snarling man with a smirk on his face, shadows dancing across his face from the still lit flames in the room, which somehow weren't spreading.

"The hell?! You're just a kid, how the hell can you do something like this!?" The thug shouted, brandishing a large axe for a weapon, Azure waving a hand and quelling the blue flames, then turning to the man as he stepped down onto the main floor.

"To tell ya' the truth I'm not as well practiced with my Semblance as I'd like to be… but there's no time for me to explain that. So, mind telling me where your boss is?"

"Tch… fuck you!"

"Thought so."

When the man changed and swung, Azure stepped to the side with a quick move, his body shimmering again as he ejected the cartridge in his right sword, returning it to it's neutral state, while also kicking the axe-wielder away to give himself room, changing his firearm to the sword again, taking a stance with both weapons, the blades crossed over one another.

The thug snarled at Azure as he readied his weapon again, swinging it wildly in an effort to hit the nimble teenager, who ducked or dodged each slash as it came at him… until one seemed too short. The thug smirked as it looked like the axe as about to hit, but the look faltered because Azure's expression only grew to a smarmy look, as the man had _finally_ noticed it. During all of the dodging, Azure's left arm had donned a slender shield that went up the length of his left arm, and the component that had been above his other weapon's holster was notably missing.

The axe head slammed into the shield, sparks flying through the air as the edge screamed across the metal. Azure took the opening as the axe slammed into the floor, shouldering the thug to the ground and taking a leap into the air, bringing both of his swords down on his opponent, a sound coming from the man's throat before he went limp. Not dead, just totally unconscious like the others… hopefully in some cases at least.

"And that's that." Azure let out a sigh as he spun his left sword, the weapon folding up into it's firearm form and then _that_ closing into a more compact, rectangular shape he slid into its holster, while the shield on his arm closed back into the blocky component from before, a slot opening on it that, as his right sword folded inward into it's own compact form, was quickly filled by the other weapon and attached back to his belt. "Now, as for that map."

Taking out his Scroll, Azure approached the map and took a picture of it, immediately sending the image out with a message attached to it. And like that, he was called, again, by Qrow.

"So, whaddya think? Torchwick's marked every Dust shop across Vale, and from the looks of it…" Azure stepped over a few of the thugs as he approached a crate, opening it to reveal _dozens_ of Dust crystals of every color there was. "… they've already gotten started. Question is though…"

" _Why the hell would some thug like Torchwick need that much Dust? Sure, his outfit is kinda notorious, but this is just weird. Whatever… Spanner wanted this checked out, so hey. Maybe the tricky bastard will finally say what's going on."_

"Yeah hopefully. He wanted a cut of the Dust if I remember the memo. So, I should hold off on calling the cops for a bit, right?"

" _Spanner has the cops in his pocket like he does the crime groups. He'll get his cut even if the cops all get it. So don't worry about it… now I think you've got a curfew to keep kid. Teacher to student on this one."_

"Ugh, yeah yeah. I'll meet ya' in the classroom when I get back." Azure sighed as he hung up, though before he could pocket the device, it began ringing again, and he raised a brow when he checked. "Ruby? Why the heck is she calling me?" and _that_ was when he remembered something, his face going straight to shocked. "SHIT! I totally forgot because this job came in!"

Hastily answering as he shot out into the streets, Azure was _immediately_ met with a girl's irritated whining.

" _Azure where the heck are you?! Did you forget about the Haven's & Huntsman session?!"_

"Uh… well honestly speaking yes." Azure said, the girl on the end of the line giving an unamused sound. "Look I just got caught up with something alright? Argent was able to hold off yeah?"

" _Of course he was, but Cin is about ready to walk out because we've had to wait… no wait, Cin no don't go I have him on the phone now!... yes I know we had to wait an hour but c'mon, a little longer, please! Ah… Argent don't grab my Scroll!"_

" _HEYYYYY!"_ Azure had to pull the Scroll away from his ear as a loud boy's voice came across next. _"The heck ya' doing Azure?! Don't make the GM wait any longer dude! I don't wanna come up with some stupid reason to hold off your character while we're starting the final chapter of the campaign!"_

" _Give me that!"_ Ruby's voice again, and Azure just gave a chuckle as he sighed, a hand on the back of his head.

"Yeah, sorry guys. Don't worry, I'm not that far away from Signal, I'll be back pretty quick if I hustle. Just uh… need to stop by the classroom once I'm back since Qrow needs me for something."

" _He's not asking you to drag his ass out of there is he?"_ A mellow sounding voice was what he heard next. _"Cause sometimes he gets sloshed after classes. I'd know."_

" _Cin don't hijack my Scroll too!"_

"Ahaha, no Cin he's not. Just uh… those private lessons again. We're doing a recap." Azure answered, snickering as he heard the background chatter. Ruby's hand must have gone over the microphone. "So hey, is Yang gonna be in the session again, or is she flaking to make sure her other friends don't find out?"

" _The latter."_ Ruby said, giving a sigh. _"She gets so into it too… but then again she's friends with_ those _people. Ugh. She's good otherwise!"_

"Ahehahaha… yeah I guess your sister isn't the best at picking friends at times." Azure chuckled, Ruby just muttering. "Alright, just hang tight. I'm about to start hoofing it."

" _Get here quick!"_ Argent shouted over things, Azure chuckling as he hung up, then ascending to the roof tops.

"Oh don't worry, I will." Azure's body shimmered again, and when he stepped off the roof, it came with a flash of white, the teen then reappearing two rooftops over, repeating the process as he went from rooftop to rooftop, and totally ignoring the sounds of the police sirens now rushing towards the place he'd just been at. Though along the way, Azure came to a stop along the rooftops, looking up to the now visible, broken moon of Remnant, a hand coming up to cover his scar. "A year… I've been searching for a year now, and nothing. But, I can feel it, I'm close… I have to be. Finding out what I can't remember anymore… I have to be close to finding those answers."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Rowan**

 _Sometimes it takes a simple, small soul to prevail over things. But, there are also times were a bolder, larger soul is needed to overcome larger hardships. But, beware of the beast within, for if you do not tame it, it shall consume you whole and full. And there will be no going back…_

* * *

The same… day after day after day. Test after test, trial after trial, fight after fight after fight. Did these "professors" know how to do anything else but constantly run him through these tests? These annoyed thoughts stuck in the teenagers mind as he fiddled with the gloves over his hands, emerald eyes peering out from a fringe of crimson hair, looking to the men in lab coats just outside the place he was waiting in. Even if it was an entire chamber away, across a stark room of nothing but white walls, he could clearly see the two men looking down from above.

How long had it been since that day? Things had just blurred together since then. If he thought back on it… it all began when the town had been attacked. He and several other kids had run off with some of the adults to escape the Grimm, those darn creatures prowling the wilds, who had attacked. The adults had left… and hadn't come back. They didn't hear a thing though, so he'd, at a young age, took charge and made the other kids keep quiet while they waited.

" _They'll be back right? Maybe they just found something… they just got caught up with some Grimm, probably."_

He wishes that had been the case now, because what they _had_ come across… well, it was worse now that reality had made it clear. Amid the silence of the night, and the scared kids crying or shuddering in fear, they'd been met by a group of men who didn't seem to be from a familiar place. Soldiers, and among them a doctor, one who said he would take them in, keep them safe from those terrifying things, give them a new home in place of their old one.

If only… oh if only that had been all. Things seemed fine at first, from what he remembered. There had been at least twenty of them then. A warm place to stay, soft beds and good food… what more could a bunch of kids ask for?... well, that was when more and more kids began disappearing. They'd been told they'd been returned to their families. They had hope then, hope that with time, they'd get to go back to their parents to.

The crimson haired teenager found that thought laughable now. Eventually their number had gotten down to seven, and seven only. That was when he learned the truth of it all. He thought it had been his turn to leave… that wasn't it.

Things had gone black after he'd been guided away. When he woke up, his body had ached all over, and he was covered in bandages. Many of the "scientists" had been looking him over when he woke up, and they had looked absolutely giddy that he'd woken up.

That's where what he could only call hell began, for him and the other six children who had been left. Endless tests, being set to fight capture Grimm, having those scientists drill their heads full of inane information he hardly bothered to retain. The other six had fallen in line though. They'd given in, become what their "caretakers" wanted them to be.

But not him. He refused to do that. He _refused_ to give up who he was… and now was the time to prove it.

He heard the intercom crackle, and the voices of the two men above him reached through, his eyes training back on them.

" _The final test is ready to engage. Status on Wrath?"_

" _All biometrics green. Wrath is ready for his final test."_

" _Good. Bring him in."_

The two speaking men in lab coats both bore similar smirks as they looked down into the stark white chamber below them through the windows, one of the panels on the cylindrical wall opening slowly, revealing a figure stepping out, a figure stepping out with armed men behind him pushing him in.

"Yeah yeah you can cut with following me around. I'm used to the procedure already, geez."

The one to exit was a very tall statured young man, towering above the scientists on the floor like a titan, built strongly and with a mess of red crimson hair topping his head, his features strong but slender like his build, his eyes a glittering emerald color, while his clothing was simply a loose white shirt and pants, though standing out where red wristlets just above fingerless gloves, as well as similarly colored anklets situated over the boots he was wearing.

"So, can we get this over with?" The young man asked, looking to the scientists in the booth as the door behind him shut, his eyes full of cold malice as he started at them, rolling his right wrist a bit.

"The test is already beginning, Wrath. Let's see how far you've come." The first of the two scientists stated, the boy clicking his tongue.

"The name's Rowan." The young man muttered, an eye shut as the gate opposite him opened up, a massive, four-legged machine lumbering out, four cannons making up its arms locking into a forward position aimed. "Time to get to work."

Rowan cracked his knuckles and tilted his head, pops sounding as he then flicked his arms, mechanical whirs sounding as the wristlets and anklets expanded into full gauntlets and greaves, circular segments becoming visible that dimly glowed with a blue light. With another flick, added grips formed from the gauntlets, more sections expanding out to form blades, and such producing a pair of edged tonfas in his grasp. He dashed forward, quickly stepping in a swerve to avoid the drone's cannon fire before kicking off the ground once he got close, the drone attempting to stomp him, Rowan rising above and pulling his right arm back, the circular segments on his gauntlet whirring as the glowed brighter, a bursting sounding as vents on the gauntlet opened up, propelling Rowan down and right onto the drone with enough force to dent the metal.

"One blow!" Rowan yelled, his left arm gaining it's own glow as he then slammed it down, a keen sounding from the gauntlet as it impacted and the blade of the tonfa drove through the metal, another burst sounding as the metal on the head of the drone broke clear apart, the machine collapsing to the ground in a heap, Rowan standing atop the drone as he flexed his hands over his weapon's grips, a small smirk showing on his face, "Five…"

"Incredible. He managed to defeat a spider drone in two blows, and he did it without compromising the machine to a critical level!" One of the scientists awed, then blinking when Rowan chuckled.

"Don't count on it egg head. I'm a bit of a klutz like that." Rowan stated, kneeling on the machine, knocking his gauntlets against his greaves, the glowing parts whirring faster and getting brighter as flames start flickering from the drone, "Four… three… two… ONE!"

Rowan slammed his feet down, bursts sounding as he was launched off the drone, the blasts from his greaves causing the machine to explode and propel him faster right to his target: The scientists behind the glass, impact shots from his gauntlets enough to shatter it, knocking one scientist to the ground from the force of the impact, Rowan skidding and launching off the wall to slam the other scientist to it, pulling a fist back as he kept the man pinned.

"H-How?! That glass should have been impenetrable!" The scientist gasped, Rowan smirking in return.

"Kinetic gauntlets and greaves, my weapon of choice. Doesn't matter what it is, apply enough force and it's bound to break!" Rowan threw his fist forward and knocked the scientist out right there, dropping the comatose body to the ground and ripping open the door, an alarm starting to blare as he ran into the hallways.

" _WARNING. WARNING. SUBJECT WRATH HAS BREACHED CONTAINMENT. ALL PERSONNEL RESPOND WITH LETHAL FORCE."_ An automated warning began blaring on repeat, Rowan scoffing as he rounded a corner.

"Tch, like that'll stop me! I've spent too long planning this!"

Rowan came to a stop when he rounded another corner, spotting a bunch of soldiers who immediately turned and trained their guns on the escapee.

"Command, this is Sigma Team, target located!"

"Oh you've gotta be kidding me." Rowan growled. His stance also shifted as he stepped forward, becoming lower, heavier in how he moved while shooting forward as the soldiers opened fire, slamming one in the gut with a spinning kick, carrying on his momentum to slug another in the face with a wide, heavy blow, flipping over the rest and aiming his now charged gauntlet at them, throwing his fist forward and back, a bolt launching and slamming the ground before exploding, Rowan landing and continuing his run as the soldiers fell around him, "Don't have time for the cannon fodder!"

Rowan's sprint through the halls continued relatively uninterrupted for a good way, the young man following the path along as he followed the signs marking the way, and when he came across a line of soldiers, he shot right through them all with a boosted punch than sent all five crashing to the floor, keeping up his movement and smashing through the door in his way, coming to a stop to find himself at a large foyer, slowing to a walk as he looked around the facility, which deceitfully enough looked like some kind of _normal_ lab facility.

"Yeah that's flat lie… where the heck is this place located anyway?" Rowan went to a terminal and started inputting data into the keyboard to try and find his location, "Come on, at least give me a map so I can know what kingdom I'm in dammit."

"Hold it right there!"

"Hagh… I seriously do not have time for this." Rowan sighed, sliding his hands off of the console and turning see that he was surrounded by at least half a dozen squads of better armed soldiers, a few outfitted in high tech looking armor, in response to them, flicking his gauntlets back out into their tonfa form. "The kill squads… shoulda known."

"You're out of time Wrath. Come quietly, and we'll only make your punishment as light as possible. Enough too… _remind you_ of who you listen to." A voice that crackled on from the terminal spoke, Rowan looking back at it with a glare.

"I'm done doctor. Sorry, but I'm getting out of here! Good bye, you won't be seeing me again!" Rowan curled his fingers and turned, spinning around and kicking one of the soldiers to the floor, ducking one of the armored soldiers, another barreling in and arm barring Rowan, the teen being knocked back and skidding to a stop, "Fine then… it won't be long… but I'll show you guys why I'm Wrath!"

Rowan's body then gained a crimson, flame like glow around him as he stepped forward, a natural burst sounding as he shot forward, enough force behind him to damage the floor as he blitzed the soldiers in front of him, skidding to a stop as they went flying from the blows, dodging the two armored soldiers that rushed him, rising up and slamming the two, the armor denting from the blows as the attacked with a flurry of punches and kicks before weaving back when the other soldiers opened fire, firing kinetic blasts before he landed, throwing a few kicks and amplifying them by releasing the built up energy in the greaves, sending a swathe of soldiers flying, raising his arms as they fired at him, the bullets not even scratching him as his aura simply burned them away.

"The hell? Why aren't they working?!" One soldier shouted.

"Doesn't matter, he's not moving!" Another of the armored fighters shouted, Rowan stopping his block and turning, smashing his fist into the soldier's helmet, a keen sounding from his gauntlet again.

"Nice try!" Rowan shouted, releasing the blast and then grabbing the armored soldier as he fell, spinning the man around like a club to smash the next group of soldiers, the damaged armor users rushing him again, only to be met by a block and then one going down to an uppercut that shattered the bottom of their helmet.

"The hell… the docs never said anything about this!" The last soldier gasped as Rowan turned to him, going down from the smashing fist as it impacted their armor, Rowan left standing amid the bodies, some groaning in unconscious pain and others limp and unmoving, the aura around Rowan's body dying down as he panted.

"Sorry… but you just didn't have the luck of the draw this time." Rowan scoffed, looking up as another one of the doors opened, "Come on… who's here now, I'm so close!"

"Sorry Wrath, but you getting out of here isn't on the list of priorities." Another voice spoke as the owner entered view, another young man with dark hair, his face hidden by a dark mask as he brandished a pair of black swords, Rowan rolling his shoulders as he took a stance.

"Envy… of course that bastard would send you." Rowan muttered, Envy scoffing as he spun a sword and pointed it at Rowan.

"Just so we're clear, I don't have any intent of bringing you back alive, even if the old man ordered otherwise. You always were too defiant for your own good." Envy chuckled, Rowan merely sighing.

"There's no point arguing this with you… so I won't!" Rowan shouted, stepping forward and throwing a fist, Envy taking the blow and skidding back, chuckling as he stopped and retaliated, Rowan landing hit after hit with both punches and the twirls of his blades, the fight seemingly in his favor even as Envy stood his ground… but, it was also obvious Envy was purposefully taking Rowan's powerful blows.

"Heh, did you forget what my Semblance is? Why keep this up huh?" Envy snapped, spinning a sword and going for a backhanded slash, Rowan ducking and showing a somber look as he rose up.

"Because no way in hell would I let you use it on me!" Rowan shouted, his gauntlet boosting as he threw a fist up, hitting Envy square in the jaw and stunning his foe as a pulse of red shot out, Rowan stepping forward and rushing Envy with a series of blows, spinning around and using a boosted kick to slam his enemy to the ground with a square blow to the head that knocked him to the ground and left him out cold, "Sorry, but I know how it works Envy. No way I'd let you stay standing for that long."

Rowan deactivated his weapons as he returned to the console, sighing when it simply locked him out, going to the sealed front door and grabbing a spot on the metal, the screech of bending metal sounding as he started pulling the door open through sheer force.

"Don't you leave Wrath! We will find you! There's no hiding from Fenrir!" The man's voice from before shouted, Rowan merely growling.

"Then I'll just send you running with your tail between your legs!" Rowan shouted, ripping the doors open and right off, panting a bit as he kicked open the following glass doors, not looking back as he left while ignoring the voice that followed him.

He ran and ran until his legs began to feel like they would give out underneath him. Once he finally stopped, he found himself on a cliff side overlooking a city. The darkness of night gave way for a spectacular view to come from the lights that shown from the buildings beyond it, like a canvas below while above the star was spangled with stars.

"Where am I?"

"Well, I was wondering what was going on with that place out here. Who'd have thought that I'd find a kid leaving it though. Let me guess, you're the reason behind that mess back there, eh kid?"

Rowan turned towards the gruff voice that had spoken, his eyes a bit wide as the owner stopped, the young man slowly nodding in response.

"Y-Yes… uhm… can I ask where I am?" Rowan inquired the man before him folding his arms.

"Of course. You're in Vale."

* * *

 _ **One year later…**_

"And that's how my first Grimm hunt went. Yes I am serious about the fact it was an Alpha Ursa." Rowan snickered as he leaned back in his chair within the lunchroom of Signal Academy, the boy now garbed in clothes rather reminiscent of a martial arts gi mixed with street clothes, consisting of a red, hooded shirt and with fitted sleeves, the pants a dark grey, and sturdy shoes on his feet, though his weapons were left clearly visible against the outfit. He'd also changed some of his own stylings, such as his hair, being a bit longer and having a pair of black feathers pinned into the right side of the strands near his ear and a short braid on the left side that hung down near the side of his face.

Around him were fellow students from classes who were looking at him in variants of being wowed, almost confused looking, or, from the face of Azure among the bunch of students, somewhat in thought. For one, to them Rowan had been framing the story of his past like it was just that, a story he'd made up on the fly to entertain his friends here at school.

"Y'know Rowan…" said Azure of, leaning forward on the table while fiddling with his goggles, "Of _all_ the stories you've told everybody, that one was just kinda typical you know? I mean, weird, sure, but, it's just another Grimm hunt."

"Oh, and what was your first hunt like, eh Mr. Heir?" Rowan said with an amused tilt of the head, Azure giving a hum to the answer, his annoyed expression telling enough as some other students laughed a bit. All in good fun of course. Rowan then looked over the other students at the table, stopping in particular at a giddy looking teen with silver hair and violet eyes practically bouncing in his seat while _clearly_ trying his hardest not to just spout off. "Well Argent? Don't keep holding your breath in, you're gonna pass out if you keep that up!"

"It's so cool sounding!" Argent shouted, waving his arms about. "It was like the opening segment of some high stakes action movie! I mean how the heck do you go from a free climb to stumbling onto an Ursa den? Cool, cool, totally cool!"

"Ahehehe, I says the Grimm expert." Rowan said, laughing along as Argent just cackled, Azure rolling his eyes with an amused smile of his own. _"I prefer these peaceful days so much more. I've actually been able to move on… maybe I can just eventually forget about that damn place and the people form it. That'd just make things so much easier… I wouldn't feel like it's always looking over me."_


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Cin**

 _Shadows usually hide those things we fear the most, and so, humanity seeks the light. But, for some, there are those with whom the shadows are more welcoming. If one is to face their fears and move forward, there may come a time when you must abandon the light and seek the shadows. It is only upon oneself to decide if their shadows are good or evil…_

* * *

"Just like the report said, at the docks. Which means the hostages should be inside that warehouse. Tch, to think the White Fang's actually fallen so far as to take hostages. Well, I doubt Sienna actually knows about this."

A figure standing atop one of the stacked containers let out a breath as they scanned the moon lit ground below, the faint blue light of the moon managing to illuminate them enough to make out the face beneath the hood of the concealing grey trenchcoat they wore, muted golden hair peering from the brim of the hood, the messy locks framing a thin, pale face marked by cat like blue eyes, the features hinting at a young man as they jumped across the containers.

"First off, point of entry… one of the skylights should be good." The young man muttered, stopping his movement as he made it to the main warehouse, looking out over the dark sea, turning his back to the view and looking down through the skylight of the warehouse, drawing out a yellow colored pistol and flicking a switch, the weapon changing into a slim shortsword which he stuck in between the slit and slowly opened the window as silently as possible. He dropped through and to the stacked crates inside, peering out from behind one to view the gathering below.

The group wasn't terribly large, around a dozen bodies, all garbed in the same white coats and white, red lined masks, the coats emblazoned with the image of a snarling wolf imposed on a ripping claw mark.

"Twelve, just like what they said. What about the hostages though? Where are they at?" With a small move, the young man moved back into the shadows, his body melding into them to the point he to vanish entirely. As he did, his vision also changed. The twelve men below became variously colored silhouettes that stood out even when they were behind other objects. And then he found what he was looking for.

Nestled between various containers were six other silhouettes. The hostages he was here to look for. This was too different. At another time, in another place, and when he went by a different name, this wasn't how things were. The people he knew weren't violent like this, they'd never have even thought to take hostages. But now?... now were they really acting any different than the animals they were trying not to be treated as?

The thought stuck as the boy melded out of the shadows, moving across the rafters towards where the hostages were. How did things get to where they are now? It all started somewhere, someone's fall began a long time ago, and he didn't know where. He knew the likely culprit… the same person he had a grudge against, the one he wanted nothing more than to get rid of so this world would be rid of at least one problem.

But that wasn't his concern at the moment. The police couldn't do a thing to help these people without causing an incident. His better judgement said this idea was stupid. It was reckless, and he had no reason to intervene. His morals said otherwise. People needed help. And if the authorities couldn't do it because of red tape, then he would on his own terms. That was enough reason for him. People say old habits die hard, and he certainly hadn't lost the strong sense of desiring to help others… only now the targets tended to be different than what they used to be.

What he found, gave answers. A cage of some kind had been made of moved aside storage containers. A nearby forklift that was obviously used to move the things around. The "cage" was too high for the people huddled on the floor to try and climb out of. Were they one container high, then one of the taller ones among the hostages probably could. But even with that, they still had to contend with a dozen armed fighters. Escape wasn't really an option.

"Hey? You okay down there?" The hooded boy kept his voice hushed as he moved into view of the people, and he pressed a finger to his lips as he dropped down. "Let's not get too loud okay? Those White Fang guys don't know I'm here. I'd like to keep it that way."

"Oh thank god someone came to help." A woman said, the boy nodding, looking among the group.

"Three men and three women… hey, what do you guys know about what happened? Why did these guys take you as hostages?" The boy knelt down as he spoke. one of the men, a posh looking sort in a ruffled suit, not to mention one hell of a black eye, cleared his throat.

"Those damn animals that claim to fight for their rights just jumped us. I was here doing business and these people here got caught in the mess… I suppose a brawl wasn't enough for them, cause they found out I work for the SDC and they want a ransome… tch, idiots, I'm not that high up." The man was clearly bitter as he spoke, the boy giving a hum.

"Schnee Dust Company employee? Makes sense with these crates. What about the girl over there?" He gestured off to the girl huddling near one of the women, the SDC man giving sigh.

"She's… she's a Faunus girl who tried to defuse things. Living in Atlas doesn't always give the best impression but… dammit, what is with these damn White Fang? She's one of their own… can't believe they did that to her." The man said. Surprisingly, actually. As far as the boy knew, Atlas people weren't entirely fond of Faunus… maybe he'd been no different before. But… if that girl had tried to help even knowing the risk, perhaps he had a genuine change of heart.

"What did they do?" He moved over to the girl and the woman, the girl looking up at him, and he hoped a gentle grin would ease her. "Hey, I don't wanna pry… he said you're a Faunus. Did you really try to help?"

"Y-Yes." The girl said, the boy looking at how her hands were covering the top of her head. "I just… I saw the trouble and I wanted to help. The man wasn't doing anything wrong, he was just making a deal… sure the workers with him were Faunus, but they didn't seem bothered."

"Faunus workers? What happened to them?" He asked, the SDC worker giving a long sigh.

"They ran off during the scuffle." The woman holding the Faunus girl said. "And then this poor girl stepped in… they hurt her bad. Pulled at her ears hard too."

"Huh?" The boy lifted a brow, and tenderly, the Faunus girl moved her hands. It revealed that what looked like tufts of her brown hair were actually dog-like ears… and her hair was matted with blood at the ears' bases. It looked like the injury would heal fine at the least… but the boy couldn't stop himself from feeling his hands ball up tight enough for his nails to start digging into his gloves' palms.

"Sons of… alright. Don't worry, I'm here to help you guys. And if it's a bit of comfort..." The boy removed his hood, white-fluff filled cat-ears rising from being pressed down on his head and twitching a bit as they rose. "I'm a Faunus too. Name's Cin Branwen, and I'm a student at Signal. Huntsman-in-training. Beating the bad guys is kinda my thing."

"What… you're seriously gonna fight them on your own?" Cin nodded to another of the men as he spoke, raising his hood again as he stood straight.

"Course I am. A dozen or so White Fang foot soldiers isn't a big deal. I've fought plenty of Grimm over the past four years. They won't be any trouble compared to those. Until then, lay low and don't make any noise. It's gonna get loud for a bit."

He got nods, and Cin reached into his jacket, pulling out another pistol. This one tipped in, rather than a knife edge, a small anchor. He fired it up at the rafters and reeled himself back up to them. Reaching under his collar and pulling up a muffler, Cin used it to cover the lower part of his face completely. He replaced the grapple-pistol for the same bladed one as before, also producing a second one in his other hand.

"Let's get started." Cin let out a breath, dropping down from the rafters and right into the shadows below.

Out away from everything else, the group of masked Faunus turned when they all heard a noise from the back, the leader, tilting his head forward. Perhaps, it was just their hostages being rowdy and making a noise again. Oh how wrong they truly were.

"Three of you go check it out!"

Three of the others nodded and moved off, drawing both guns and swords as they entered the rows of crates, splitting off through the paths as they were directed, and watching from the corners and shadows, Cin watched, melded entirely with the shadows, his ice-chip eyes barely visible in his melding in. They'd never see him even if they _were_ looking.

"It's clear down here, let's regroup."

"It's not as clear as you'd think."

The soldier turned only to get kicked into one of the crates, his gun being swatted aside as he turned, only his mouth showing his expression as he was faced with Cin aiming one of his weapons right at his face in pistol form, the barrel like a gaping hole at his eyes.

"W-What the…" The soldier muttered, the hood wearer silently pulling the trigger of his weapon, a quiet crack sounding as the shot was fired, a black flash coming from the muzzle rather than a white one. Cin lowered his gun as he looked at the now limp body with a hole in its mask, though not a bit of blood was seen from it, looking to the left and right as he heard the sounds of the other two coming close.

"And there's the trap." Cin stepped back and melded into the shadows again, seemingly dropping away into the floor itself as he moved back, right as the two White Fang soldiers arrived. One of them checked the body, his form twitching in surprise.

"He's not dead despite the hole… knocked out though. Whoever's here isn't playing nice despite that. How they hell did they get in?" The soldier muttered, pulling away from checking the pulse that was surprisingly still there, "Tell the… what the… where'd you go?!"

The soldier looked around when his comrade had vanished without a trace, freezing when a moment later, they seemed to come right out of the shadows, impacting the ground like a sack, the shimmer of an aura fading and a bulging bruise showing on the fallen one's neck.

"It's always fear that kicks in first when faced with the unknown. Doesn't matter if you're human _or_ Faunus. Or… some would say Faunus have it worse. We do have stronger instincts."

The soldier turned, shock evident as Cin _rose up_ from his shadow, shrouded in black, making his blue eyes stand out like chips of ice piercing right through the man, stepping forward and grabbing the soldier, the only sound to follow being the man's scream, but it was cut off just as abruptly as it began. But it did not go unnoticed by the remaining nine.

"The hell was that?" The lead soldier spoke up, then looking over the others, "Well? Go check it out!"

The eight others all rushed off with weapons ready, the first group to get between the crates immediately coming across the three fallen soldiers. They weren't dead, even if their breathing was shallow… now it was becoming clear to them who exactly was responsible for this sudden mess.

"It's… seriously?! It can't be! It's the Shadow!" And up above the soldiers, looming like a lion ready to pounce, Cin flicked a switch on his guns, the weapons shifting, the blades extending out rapidly into short swords, the soldiers turning as he pounced…

"AGGGHHH!"

"What the hell is that?!"

"Get out of there! The Shadows after us!"

"What the heck is going on now?!" The lead solder snapped, taken aback when only six soldiers ran out from the crates, following them being Cin once more, pouncing on the last soldier to get out, his blades slamming the man to the ground, one going right through his arm with the move he made, and he stomped a bit on the wound as he stood up.

"Sorry, but play time's about over." Cin said, flipping one of his weapons into pistol form, raking it along and shooting out the lights both before and behind him, his arm still as he stopped at the one just above him, one final pull of the trigger sounding as the final light was shot out, leaving only the dim moonlight coming in from the windows above to illuminate the warehouse, Cin vanishing into the darkness as the remaining White Fang looked around in a panic.

"Turn on lights! Find that guy! Anyone who can see well in the dark, find him!"

The soldiers all then turned on lights on their firearms, each one staying close in the open space as they scanned around, some flinching when they swore a shadow flitted by only for it to vanish just as quickly. And while the soldiers clustered together, Cin had swung up onto one of the railings above, a line reeling back into one of his weapons. He swapped out to his normal pistol, the end of one extending as the other folded, both being locked together to form a rifle. Cin then attached a scope to the weapon as he also spun on a silencer, aiming down the sight with careful precision as he laid down on the wide rafters, aiming right at the group up soldiers, his finger hovering carefully over the trigger.

"Normally I'd be going for kill shots… but this situation is a bit different." Cin let out a breath, swapping the magazine he had loaded, cocking the rifle, and pulling the trigger without a moment of hesitation, the soldiers below jumping as one of their number fell from the clean shot, a broken shimmer across his body. Two more went down before Cin split the weapon and swung down, carrying the momentum from the swing to kick one of the others and stop himself, swinging one of his swords into a reverse grip and blocking the leader as he attacked with a larger blade, merely scanning around as the remaining two brandished their own weapons.

"Heh, out of the dark now! You've got nowhere to hide!" The leader snapped, Cin simply scoffing as he kicked him aside.

"You say that, but there's only three of you left. I've got no reason to hide to finish this." Cin responded, flipping the sword around, ducking the one who rushed him and slashing with both weapons, the soldier falling to the ground, getting finished off with an axe-kick to the head, "Sloppy… is this seriously the best Adam can get his hands on?"

The two remaining soldiers looked at each other, opening fire at their enemy. Cin slipped away and fading into the darkness of the dimly lit space, dashing back in from behind and disarming his enemies of their firearms, kicking the leader aside and slamming his knee into the second one's chin, firing a shot at point black to leave him sprawled like the others. Which left only the leader standing as he recovered from the previous blow.

"Tch… you don't play around. Surprised you're not killing anyone this time, Shadow." The leader muttered, the boy scoffing.

"I learned a long time ago that mercy isn't something you can just hand out. And the only reason I'm not is to find something out once you're all nice and hog tied." Cin flipped his blades from straight-holds and into ice-pick holds, and even this bumbling soldier could see the weapons were actually _meant_ to be held that way. Which meant that Cin had been holding back on them.

"Tch… son of a bitch!" The soldier charged at Cin, waving around his sword wildly. Cin used one blade to parry and the other to strike, flipping one into gun form and firing multiple shots, the man's Aura breaking quickly from the point blank strikes. Cin didn't let the chance pass up and shot forward, driving his elbow into the man's gut, following up with a rising kick that slammed right into the soldier's face, and the Grimm mask was sent flying off from the blow as the man was lifted into the air and then flopped down onto the ground.

"For a dozen guys that felt a bit _too_ quick… whatever, not done here yet."

A few minutes later, Cin had bound up and gathered the twelve White Fang members and tossed the bunch of them into a pile. His mask was still on, his hood still up, so when the now maskless Faunus stirred awake, they saw naught but stray strands of gold hair and those icy eyes bearing the slightest of glows in the now dimply lit warehouse since the emergency lights had kicked on.

"Wha… w-we're alive?" One soldier muttered, Cin nodding, kneeling down to look the leader in the eyes.

"Yeah. I'm not about to make things harder on the police than need be… but I do have a few things to ask. First off, who was it that pulled at that girl's ears? Frankly you're lucky they're gonna heal up without issue… still, anyone who knows enough, would know Faunus ears hurt easy." Cin drew out one of his pistols as he spoke, looking over the twelve Faunus. "Well? You're already tied up, and I tossed your weapons into a corner. You don't have much of a choice, because I'm also ready to call the cops about any time now. So just save yourselves the trouble and tell me."

"Oh shove it you damn human! What'll you get out of that anyway? What, beat twelve of us and help one? Talk about laughable!"

"Ah right… I still have my hood on." Cin reached up and lowered the hood, his cat ears standing up, the White Fang soldiers suddenly looking horrified. "See, here's the irony of this situation right now. I'm a Faunus whose life was sent on one ridiculous downward spiral by the White Fang. So… which of you guys did it?"

"And what'll you do if we do tell you huh?"

"Find out for yourself."

"Tch. Fine, it was me and him!" One Faunus cockily spat, jabbing at the other near him, who _immediately_ got a worried look. "That bitch should've known better than to try and help some SDC bastard! So we went for her ears! If she was a real Faunus…"

"Shut up!" The other snapped, shouldering the other as Cin walked over to them, and the cock of his gun got both to flinch.

"That is quite a line to say." Cin remarked, a wry but angry smirk under his mask, aiming his pistol at the first one's face. The moment was silent as the man stared down the barrel, and if one looked closely they could see Cin's arm shaking from suppressed rage… but at the last moment as his finger pressed down on the trigger, he aimed downwards and instead shot the man in the leg, a howl of pain coming from the Faunus as he fell back. Cin let out a long breath and steadied himself, his cold glare turning to the second Faunus, who immediately tried to shuffle back in fear. "Relax… I'm gonna leave you sick bastards to the cops… but, I wanna ask something."

Cin made a point to shove the still hot barrel of his gun under the chin of the leader, the Faunus yelping in pain from the heat.

"W-What?"

"Where can I find Adam Taurus? You could say I've got a debt to repay… so, mind telling me where you lot are actually camped out?"

"Tch… like we'd tell the damn Shadow about that!"

"Y'sure about that?" Cin moved the gun and fired to the side a few times, pressing the now much hotter barrel back where it had been, eliciting a sharp yell of pain. "Next time I'll actually shoot something. I'd also like to know what he's been up to."

"Telling where the camp is would be useless!" The Faunus snapped. "They keep… they keep moving it around based on what our goal is but… a few months ago… we joined up with some woman. A human woman!"

"What? Why the hell would Adam join a human? He hates humans."

"It wasn't by choice… this bitch is powerful."

"Hm. You got a name for her?"

"Bite me!"

And then the gun was pressed into the man's thigh.

 _BANG!_

"AGGGGGHHHH!"

"Try again."

"Cinder! Her name's Cinder!"

"See, now how hard was that?" Cin stood up and holstered the gun in his coat, pulling out his Scroll. "Hope you're ready to answer the questions of the cops."

* * *

It was quite some time later. The cops had since arrived on the docks along with medical teams. The White Fang members were being loaded into vans, while responders were checking the condition of the former hostages. The Faunus girl had been patched up, bandages on her head where her ears had been pulled. And thanks to her stronger eyes, she was able to spot Cin lingering off in the shadows, his hood up but mask down.

He turned to leave, but the girl hurried over and grabbed him by the sleeve, Cin turning around as he stopped.

"U-Uhm… thank you." The girl said, Cin giving a small huff.

"It's not that big of a deal. But, I know that for you it is. Next time, try not to jump into a dangerous situation like that. At least, if it looks like you can't handle it." Cin said, then sighing to himself. "But not like I'm saying you did the wrong thing. More people need to know this Human versus Faunus issue is a two-way road."

"It is a problem… when did things go wrong with the White Fang though? They were peaceful a few years ago." The girl said, Cin sighing again.

"If you wanna point the finger at someone, point it at Sienna Khan. The policies she has just drive certain types of people to get worse and more extreme." Cin said, pocketing his hands. "But, I wouldn't dwell on that too much if I were you. Just try to do right by people, and they'll do right by you."

"Of course!" The girl nodded, then shuffled a bit. "Also uhm… my name is Auburn. I work at a Faunus run shop not far from here. If uh, you need some help at some point, feel free to stop by!"

"I'll do that depending on how things go. And again, the name's Cin Branwen. Later." Cin pulled out his grapnel gun and zipped off as Auburn waved him off, and once he'd reached a rooftop, he stopped and looked up to the moon, letting a breath go out. "First Adam then that… how powerful does this Cinder woman have to be to make _him_ agree to work with her? Tch… where does Blake stand in this now? I wonder if Adam finally went to far for her to stomach anymore."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Argent**

 _Even amid the darkest of shadows, a light, no matter how small, will find a way to flicker to life. Even if the darkness may try to smother it, the light will continue to flicker, it's sparks spreading and growing until it has turned into the brightest of flames._

* * *

"So Argent, mind telling me _how_ you heard about this "job" you dragged me into? The fact we're trekking out into the woods does not bode well!"

Azure muttered as he cut aside more underbrush with his single edged blade, ahead of him, one of his few friends at Signal giving a laugh. The boy's name was Argent, and he was the very reason Azure now found himself trudging through the woods at the outskirts of Vale when he would have much preferred to be spending the afternoon fine tuning his weapons.

"It's part of the adventure! Besides, it's not often our board gets requests about Pantheras!" Jumping back into view from ahead in the brush, Argent's silver hair was the first part of him to come into view, following that being his bright violet eyes. For a Vale resident, Argent's skin was rather tanned, enough that when compared to his bright silver hair, it was rather stark. Said hair was styled in a messy, spiky way that left it sticking about all over the place, with some styled bits around his eyes. He wore a military styled grey jacket with a hood stitched onto the collar, while a black cloth was wrapped over his left arm and allowed to hang rather loosely, held in place by a pair of black straps and a black epaulet and the straps were buckled by a metal wolf-head emblem. Covering his legs were dark grey pants with armored knees, combat boots, and black fingerless gloves. Around his waist was a belt that held a few small magazines, likely for the weapons holstered on both sides of his hips, while most notably, crisscrossed on his back were four more sheathes for different blades, all folded up into more convenient carrying forms though one in particular stood out thanks to it's heavy looking rectangular guard and red-wrapped two-handed hilt.

"Yeah, we usually don't because those contracts are saved for pros." Azure said, Argent chuckling as he continued forward.

"Ah c'mon dude! We're some of the top of the class at Signal. Besides, the contract said it was wounded and weak. Students of our caliber can definitely handle it. Especially since we learned extra tricks from Qrow y'know?" Argent remarked, the boys reaching a clearing, both beginning to look around for any signs of their potential prey.

"I'm just saying." Azure replied, stabbing his sword into the ground as he palmed at the base of some shrubs, sniffing the air a bit, making a bit of a disgusted face. "Kinda pungent don't ya think?"

"That would mean the Panthera went hunting." Argent said, rubbing some dirt between his fingers before looking off, heading off in a new direction. "When injured, Panthera get ornery and tend to go after local fauna. It could be because Grimm actually can eat food or just for spot, but that's not super clear. As far as we know they don't. But, let's see… aha! Look here Azure, on the tree!"

Argent went over to a tree, and from it he pried off a deer's antler, Azure giving a hum as he looked it over.

"That'd take a lot to rip off, much less leave it stuck in a tree. Definitely something a Grimm could do."

"And that means we've got a trail." Argent said, looping the antler onto his belt, then drawing one of the small blades at his hips, driving it into the tree and carving a mark, which he'd been doing periodically since they started this trek.

The silver haired boy was definitely a hunter. Of all the things he was knowledgeable of, the Creatures of Grimm were at the top of that list, right next to how to fight them. Not a trace he couldn't follow, a method he couldn't think of to disable it and tell others. A leader he may not be but a strategist he certainly was. If you wanted something found, Argent would find it without any trouble at all.

Some would ask, why? Why did he desire to know so much about these creatures? It wasn't mere curiosity, that was clear enough. It was more like he behaved exactly like the hunter he sought to become… it wasn't just a desire to know more, but a desire to _understand._ After all, the more a hunter knows about their prey, the easier it is for them to track it. What do you have to fear of monsters that you know everything about? Turn the hunters into the hunted… perhaps that was the thing he sought from this.

"So where do you think it's den could be? Though I doubt it would have run back off to it. Would've been taken care of if that was the case." Azure spoke as the two reached a small ravine dividing the woods, Argent kneeling down at the lip of the small ledge, palming at the dirt, looking around for any possible hints. "Hey, Argent, down there. Tracks."

Azure pointed into the ravine, and narrowing his eyes, Argent was able to see the imprints in the ground. Argent jumped down and checking the prints, a smirk coming to his face as he rubbed at them. The glint in his eyes became excited.

"Perfect! They're kind of old, but it's definitely gonna lead us there. And look at the size." Argent circled his finger around the print, Azure joining him and looking. "Looks like our Panthera isn't small either. Fully grown from the looks of it. And there's a rut nearby. Likely the body of the deer."

"Has anyone ever told you that you're _scary_ good at tracking things?"

"Many times Azure! Hehehe, come on, let's rush it!"

With a nob, Azure followed after Argent when his friend dashed off, the two running along the ravine, jumping past the rocks that acted as obstacles with practiced ease, moving up from the ravine as it began to edge away to shallow slopes and to a line of cliffs, the two students slowing their pace as they followed the natural wall, Argent keeping his eye on the trail at all times so they wouldn't lose it. Eventually, the tracking led the two to a cave, both taking spots at either side of the entrance.

"I'll take a look." Azure pulled down his goggles and turned them off as he peered to look in the cave, scanning around. "Roomy that's for sure and… ugh, geez! If that smell was bad before, it's outright terrible now! Grimm really do only hunt other animals for sport!"

"Ugh, I am _so_ showering when this is done. If we can smell the carcass from _here_ then that's gonna cling." Argent muttered, Azure nodding as he pulled his goggles back up. "Well, no point waiting around right? On we go!"

"Uh, Argent I would…"

 _Crrraaaa…_

"WHOOOOAAAA!"

"… be careful… shit! Argent!"

"It's aight! I'm good!" Argent had found himself sliding down into a place deeper into the cave, and he could see Azure leaning down the lip, the light leaving Argent visible. "Yo! I'll go and check deeper. Find something to get me back up while I'm down here, alright man?"

"Are you nuts?"

"No, I'm cashews."

"NOT THE TIME!"

Argent only cackled as he turned and ran off, Azure's exasperated yelling echoing behind him. Once the cave began to darken the further in he went, Argent flicked his left hand out. With that motion, silver flames flickered into life in his palm, illuminating the walls and creating dancing shadows across them. Argent sniffed the air as he walked along, giving a hum.

"Definitely going the right way. I wonder, what'd make a Panthera drag a carcass back to its cave? Grimm don't _need_ to eat animals as far as anyone knows. Hmmm… gonna have to note that down. Tch… god this smell is unbearable."

Argent plugged his nose with his free hand as he continued along. The air was growing more and more stagnant by the moment. As he moved on, the cave began to open up, and he killed the flame in his hand to bring darkness down, pulling out his own pair of goggles and putting them on, a press to the side activating night vision.

"Hehe, gonna have to thank Azure later for whipping these up for me. Guy's one hell of an engineer. Even if they're in a buggy beta phase."

With the better vision from the goggles, he was able to see how far the cave actually went. The space was surprisingly open, and a few parts of the wall gave way to completely black voids, other entrances into it at the least. In the spacious room was a few spread out, fly attracted deer carcasses, wounds long since dried out and left to rot. But no sign of the Grimm.

However, Argent knew that was what it _wanted_ him to think. He remembered it from an excerpt in the good old _Bestiary of Grimm._ "Pantherae are solitary creatures. Normally living in prides like lions, led by an adult. If the rest of the pride is killed then no doubt the mature members will seek revenge, but, Pantherae are not fools. They are quick to run in order to lick their wounds if sufficiently injured. Beware following one into it's den though, as it could be anywhere, and it _will_ know you have arrived."

"So then, where are you hiding." Argent pulled out both of the short blades at his hips, flipping one of the weapons around as it folded out, and with one, he took it and threw it, a ring sounding as it drove into the stone. When that elicited nothing, Argent aimed at another spot and threw the other blade, another ring sounding as it dug in. In the same moment, his hands shot back and grasped two of the folded weapons at his back, drawing a pair of identical blades, one edge straight and another serrated, clearly made for slashing as the swords lacked an actual point at their tops, instead being angled, giving a vague trapezoidal look to the swords.

Argent let both edges sit on the floor, producing audible scraping sounds as he walked out into the center of the room, and as he came to a stop, he raked one sword up, pulling it hard enough that sparks flew from the contact point before he brought it up. A pointer for Pantherae, they have sensitive hearing, so loud noises are perfect for disorienting them… or drawing them out.

A low growl began to fill the space, a smirk coming to Argent's face as he turned to the source of it. From the shadows of one of the exits, a red glow of eyes began to show, and stalking out from the shadows was a being seemingly made of shadows itself. Its large, feline body came with heavy steps, a shadowy mane marking it's pitch black body. Covering its body was a bone-like carapace, marking mostly it's head, spine, and legs, and the face bore red markings.

Argent took a step back on purpose as the Grimm began approaching. He took both blades and drove them both into the stone, the Panthera growling as the sound pierced its ears. Not missing the chance, Argent's right hand went for the red hilted-weapon. As he pulled it out, gears could already be heard turning as the blade of the weapon shot out. From the wider half of the blade, a thinner portion made up the other half, forming a solid sheet of metal aside from the transition zone.

The Panthera lowered down and lunged, Argent moving his sword and blocking its talons, the massive creature pushing him back quite a ways. But, as he came close to it, Argent shot up onto the wall, vaulting off and slashing. The blade cut into the Grimm's hide, causing a black mist and ichor to seep from the fresh injury.

The Panthera's tail whipped at Argent as he sailed over, Argent drawing the last weapon he had to take the blow as his back was to the tail. While still sent careening off elsewhere, Argent rolled and landed as the second blade extended. It was a rather odd blade, while its single edge was solid, an actual look at it revealed the blade to be hollow, giving it a V shape from within it.

"Okay, single blade isn't gonna help me. Perfect." Argent chuckled as he took the hollow blade and shoved it onto the main sword in his hand, clicking noises coming from the wide guard of the main blade as the hollow blade was locked in. When the Panthera lunged again, Argent dove past, grabbing one of the serrated swords as he shot past, turning back around and pulling the blade across the Panthera's leg when the beast turned on a dime and lunged at him again. As he finished the motion, Argent then looked the sword above the hollow blade, adding a back edge to the assembly.

He then dove for the twin sword, but the Panthera got between him and it. Argent gave a chuckle as it growled at him, and as he brought his left hand up, silver flames grew at his fingers, and once it was level as the Panthera charged, the flames shot from his hand in a stream. The Panthera crashed to the ground as it roared, the flames licking at its body. Argent found the window to grab the other sword as the Panthera crashed into the wall, locking it to the other side of the sword, now setting it on to all being a much larger, heavier blade.

"Alright, good enough without the side blades." Argent grabbed the hilt with both hands now, the Panthera growling even as the silver flames continued to lick at its fur. The roar that came from the beast shook the cave, Argent standing his ground, this time charging himself. The beast's claws met the edge of the blade, only for it to come that the sword cut right through the claws, leaving messy, ichor bleeding holes in the Panthera's paw.

The creature howled, it's hind legs both striking at Argent. He wound up taking the hit head on, being sent reeling back, and actually hitting one of the deer carcasses only tripped him up, sending him to land back-first onto the wall of the cave after rolling across the floor. Conveniently though, right next to one of the daggers he'd thrown. A smirk coming back to his face, Argent grabbed the blade out of the wall as the Panthera jumped at him, the blade changing form into a large handgun. Argent aimed the gun quickly and fired, bullets perforating the Pantheras chest. He dove to the side as the Panthera refused to cease it's charge, crashing to where he'd been, while Argent changed the gun back into its blade form and placed it on the side of the assembled sword, leaving only one more slot on it's opposite side. Deciding not to miss even a beat, Argent shot to the side, finding where the remaining weapon was dug into the wall.

But his foes was intent not to let him forget it was there for even a moment. Even with one its paws rendered downright useless beyond batting at things, and with it's belly seeping ichor, the Panthera lunched again with its maws open. Argent was much smaller than it after all, only of average height for a boy his age, and the Panthera was bigger than a bear. One bite to the neck and it'd be over… the fault though, was the fact the Grimm wasn't smart enough to remember those flames. Argent glanced back as the beast lunged, flames rising from both of his hands and up the edge of the sword. With a hefty swing of the heavy blade, the flames raked up and engulfed the Panthera, the swing catching the beast by the mane. The sword was able to cut right into the tough fibers, going far enough to actually catch the beast's neck, the full swing slamming the Panthera into the ground with a burst of fire following it.

Argent stumbled back as bit as he wrenched his sword out of the mane, stepping back to the remaining dagger and yanking it out of the wall. Staying cautious with it since the Panthera was still rumbling even as it burned. Ichor ran down the edge of his sword as he approached while changing the dagger into its gun form. Not surprisingly really, the Panthera lashed out in one last, desperate slash with its claws. Stumbling back, Argent aimed his gun and plugged the Panthera with every bullet loaded into it, the Grimm finally going totally limp with one more gurgle. As it finally died, the Pantheras body began shuddering, but not with movement, as if its very form was starting to vanish. The shadowy form of its body then faded into the ground like evaporating sludge, only leaving behind it's carapace and other effects.

"I'll be taking that. Good fuckin' riddance." His voice absolutely dripping with contempt, Argent holstered the weapon in his off-hand and picked up the "mask" from the carapace, setting it onto his belt, starting the process of disassembling and holstering his assembled blade as he turned to leave the cave, and he was about halfway back through the tunnel he'd come from when he heard footsteps. Removing his goggles as light also came on back, Argent smirked as Azure came screeching to a halt, his fellow Signal student panting as he stopped. "Yo Azure! I got the kill!"

"Yeah, and you look like you got hit by a truck." Azure said, Argent happily showing off the "mask" he'd looted.

"Ah come on, quit sniping. I only took a few glances and one big hit. My Aura wasn't even broken, so that's alright in my book. That and my trusty sword took the harder hits from the thing. I almost got to fully assemble it this time to boot!" Argent took the lead as he playfully put the "mask" over his face, doing a faux roar. "Hahaha, scary eh?"

"No, it's stupid looking." Azure smirked at Argent, the other teenager lifting the "mask" and sticking his tongue out.

"Whatever. Time to go and collect!"

"Y'know Mr. Taiyang is gonna grill you for this one, right?"

"Pff! We'll just bluff him and say we took it on together, it'll be fine!"

"… I highly doubt that."

Of course it was the moment they reached the entrance that their joking banter went cold. A man was leaning up against the entrance, his eyes looking at the two in a glare with nothing but the intent to do as Azure guessed and give them the lecture of a life time. A chuckle came from the man as the boys both gulped.

"And look at this." Taiyang, one of the teachers of Signal who personally mentored the two, folded muscled arms as he looked the teenagers over. "I was wondering why that Panthera contract went missing… honestly at this point I'm not surprised. Why do you two always have to do the dangerous ones?"

"You were saying?" Azure muttered, Argent putting his hands together and taking in a long breath, then lowing his hands together but still having them forward.

"So what happened was…" Not like starting his reasoning with _that_ was going to save Argent from the lecture that was to come. But hey, at least he was trying. He didn't really care anyway. He was just glad he'd killed that Grimm, so as far as he cared, it would be worth the hour long lecture on why he _shouldn't_ have done so.


	5. Chapter 5

ARCA

 **Chapter 5: A Crow and A Rose**

 _ **Vale/Rooftops**_

"So no thanks to that map, I know where Torchwick is gonna hit next. Hmph, hope this information was right." Azure closed his Scroll as he looked down from the rooftop he was seated on, his eyes on the only Dust shop open at the late hour, though his attention was drawn away for a moment when a crow came and landed just next to him, the corvid looking right at the silver eyed boy rather closely before flitting off again, "Hmph."

Azure's attention went back to watching the shop and streets, the young bounty hunter standing up and raising his hood when he spotted an approaching group of men in black led by a man in a fancy white coat and bowler hat, carrying a cane tucked under his arm, the man being Azure's target, Roman Torchwick. He could only assume the thugs were the poor schmucks Torchwick hired to replace the guys he'd beaten the other day.

"About time." Azure hummed, skirting down from the fire escapes and to the shadows below, keeping an eye on Torchwick and his hired goons as they entered the shop, drawing his weapon as he watched through the windows as the goons started looting the Dust crystals, though as Azure was about to burst into the shop, one of the windows was blown wide open, Azure catching a glimpse of red before it turned out to be a girl, standing from having sent a goon flying, her weapon unfolding into a massive scythe, though Azure was caught when her eyes became visible as she twirled her weapon around, striking silver, just like his own… and he also felt an immediate sense of surprise at seeing her too.

The rest of the goons then ran out, Azure skirting back when the girl immediately acted, the way she fought with her scythe being a style Azure found reminiscent of someone else he knew, the four goons not lasting long, though the last one to go down from the rapid slashes was sent flying towards Azure, who kicked the goon away and nearly into Torchwick as he walked out from the shop, glancing over and smirking as he saw the hooded Azure, then looking to the girl in red and the goon at his feet.

"You were worth every cent, truly you were." Torchwick sighed, taking the cigar he had out of his mouth, dropping it to the ground and snuffing it with his cane, "Well, Red, I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening, but, as much as I'd _love_ to stick around..." Torchwick lifted his cane at the girl, the bottom opening into a targeting sight, "I'm afraid this is where we part ways."

The shot that fired from the cane roared forward like a firework, the girl launching into the air to avoid the shot that left a sizable crater in the street, Azure going for a slash only for Torchwick to smirk and fire again, Azure lifting his arms, growling and shooting off, then halting and blocking the girl's scythe as she reacted on instinct to him rushing forward, Azure glancing at her with a notably annoyed look, the girl blinking when she saw beneath the hood, Azure's eyes standing out just enough from the shadow it cast.

"I'm on your side kid… wait, Ruby?! The heck are you doing here?!" Azure said, the girl withdrawing her weapon, still looking somewhat stunned.

"Azure?! I could be asking the same thing about you! Hey wait where're you going?!" The girl yelled, Azure clicking his tongue and already dashing off as Torchwick made his way up to the roofs, Ruby following as Azure nimbly flipped up from the fire escapes, both skidding to a stop at the top, gravel kicking up at their feet, Torchwick sighing as he kept his back to the two.

"Nowhere to run Torchwick, and there's no point fighting, you know how it ended last time." Azure spoke, aiming his single-edged sword at Torchwick.

"Oh well if it isn't Blue! My my, how did you find out where I was going to be this time eh?" Torchwick stated, Azure giving a scoff.

"Let's just say your boys weren't that good at cleaning up."

"Well looks like _now_ I know who to blame for making me have to go to Junior!" Torchwick laughed, then pointing his cane at Azure and Ruby, "But you were right Blue, there is no point fighting, so I won't even bother!"

Azure and Ruby raised a brow, both taking steps back when a standard airship rose up from behind the building, the air whipping around from the roaring engines and knocking Azure's hood off his head, Torchwick hopping into the vehicle and facing the two pursuers, pulling out a red Dust crystal.

"End of the line you two!" Torchwick shouted, tossing the crystal forward and aiming as the crystal landed on the ground right between Azure and Ruby, firing a shot that _seemed_ to impact, laughing as the dust shot up.

But, Torchwick's seeming victory was not to be had, as a new arrival had appeared before the silver eyed teenagers, a bespectacled woman wearing a cape and wielding a riding crop, a purple circle of light fading as she lowered the item, Azure letting out a dejected sigh as the woman looked back at the two behind her, letting out a small huff and adjusting her glasses, one swing from her riding crop sending forth dozens of purple beams that rocked the airship, Torchwick retreating further in, the woman letting out another light that formed a storm cloud above the now retreating aircraft, one swipe downwards unleashing spikes of ice on the ship, rocking it again as it was turned into a metal pincushion.

Azure then took the initiative and switched his left hand sword to it's gun form as he slapped a clip into its side, aiming at the ship as the weapon then edged with flecks of ice as the weapon as fired, though a new figure came into view and stopped the bullets dead with ease, Azure growling while the new figure, clearly a woman, smirked upon seeing him, a move of her hands launching a bolt of fire that Azure retreated from, while the glasses wearing woman deflected it, amber colored energy scattering on the ground, the three on the roof leaping back as gouts of fire exploded from the marks.

"Come on…" Azure growled, the caped woman glancing at him before swiping her riding crop again, the shards from the roof gathering and forming into a spear like construct that shot towards the ship, the tilting vessel stopping major damage, but the attack continued as the construct split into three and circled around, a burst in the air coming right from the new enemy and obliterating the shards. Ruby then switched her weapon into a sniper rifle and fired, though like with Azure the bullets were blocked, their enemy swiping her hand and glowing circles forming, Azure rolling forward while the other woman pulled Ruby forward as pillars of flame shot up behind them.

And when the three recovered, the ship was already leaving, Azure letting out a growl, but as he was about to give chase, he was grabbed by his hood, yelping as he landed right on his tailbone, grimacing from the sudden jolt of pain as he looked back, receiving a stern glare from the woman's emerald eyes.

"What the hell Glynda?! I was going after them!" Azure snapped.

"No, Mr. Aquarion, you are not giving chase. And it's Ms. Goodwitch to you, young man." The woman retorted, keeping a tight hold on Azure's collar as she dragged him to his feet.

"You're a Huntress!" Ruby gasped, aweing as she looked at the woman, Azure and Glynda glancing at each other as the girl giddily shook about, "Can I have your autograph?!"

* * *

Not less than half an hour later, Azure and the girl, Ruby Rose, who _happened_ to be a friend of his from Signal Academy, were both seated at a table in the local police station, both waiting for Glynda to return after having dropped them both there.

"Well this night sucks! I was finally onto a lead but no! I end up caught by the one person who scares the crap out of me, just friggin' great!" Azure grumbled under his breath, tapping his fingers on the chair.

"Azure, what were you even doing out here that late? Well, okay actually, more like why were you after that Torchwick guy?" Ruby said, Azure looking to the side. "Hey come on! I know Uncle Qrow has you do extra curricular stuff and… oh my god is _this_ what you two have been up to?!"

"What? Noooo! Why the hell would Qrow be dragging a kid into a hunt for a…" Azure muttered, giving a sigh, unable to keep up the façade as Ruby started getting into his face. "I'm a terrible liar, I know."

"Yes you are Azure." Ruby said, tapping her senior on the shoulder. "So… what do you think is gonna happen now?"

"I do not know. I mean hey you've always talked about wanting to meet a real Huntress so, hey, bright side… even if Glynda is freaking scary." Azure joked, Ruby snickering.

"Yeah but _you_ seem to know her. What are you not telling me huh? I know your family is famous and all but it's not fair if you keep stuff from your best friend!" Ruby faux whined, Azure breaking out into laugher and putting his head on the table, though all joking stopped when the door opened. Azure and Ruby looked forward when Glynda entered once more, keeping a stern look on the two teens as she paced around, looking at a data pad in her hands.

"Let's see here…" Glynda sighed, "Azure Aquarion and Ruby Rose. I hope you two realize your actions tonight will _not_ be taken lightly. You put yourselves and others in extreme danger."

"But they started it!" Ruby objected, rather childishly though.

"I was tracking a dangerous criminal and I would have had him if you hadn't stopped me! Was so freaking close on that lead of mine too…" Azure voiced his own objections, falling silent when Glynda glared at him.

"If it were up to me, Ms. Rose, you'd be sent home with a pat on the back…" Glynda started, Ruby looking hopeful until the riding crop almost smacked her hands, "And a slap on the wrist! And as for you, Mr. Aquarion, well, frankly I'm worried about _what_ you'd do. Perhaps I'll just let your father deal with you."

"So I guess that explains the handcuffs, right?" Azure quipped, raising his arms to reveal his wrists had indeed been clamped by police issue handcuffs.

"Those were so you wouldn't get any funny ideas." Glynda replied, not even bothering hiding the fact Azure was being kept restrained, "But… there is someone here who would like to meet the both of you."

"It's Ozpin isn't it?" Azure sighed, lowering his hands to the table as his expression turned to an annoyed scowl, Glynda stepping aside, the door opened with a push, an older looking man entering, his gray hair standing out despite still looking relatively young, and he looked at the two teens behind low hanging, dark spectacles, a plate of cookies in one hand and a coffee mug in the other.

"Ruby Rose, and Azure Aquarion." Ozpin stated, looking closely at the two by leaning in, specifically, looking at their eyes very carefully, "You both have silver eyes."

"U-Uhm…" Ruby murmured, Azure letting out a long sigh.

"So, where did you learn to do this, Ms. Rose?" Ozpin asked, gesturing to the video feed playing of Ruby's earlier fight, clearly captured from the area's security cameras.

"S-Signal Academy." Ruby answered, Ozpin setting the plate of cookies down, and to Azure's annoyance, pulling out the folded-up shield and sword and the holstered secondary weapon, setting them on the table.

"And _these,_ Mr. Aquarion. A customized Assault Blade, and then this one." Ozpin pointed to the sword/shield. "This one is rather unique… both would be serviceable on their own, yet you use both. Interesting choice in fighting style. Who inspired you to do that hm?" Azure looked to the side, his expression clearly saying "I don't have to answer that" and how he was trying to ignore Ozpin, the man humming and then looking back to Ruby, "And they taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapon types made?"

"Well, one teacher in particular. He taught both me and Azure actually." Ruby answered, a _thunk_ sounding as Azure's head dropped onto the table. "What?"

"I see." Ozpin hummed, pushing Azure's weapons to the side and sliding the plate closer to the teens, Azure again showing he was still cuffed before moving his arms back under the table, Ruby however, only taking a moment before she began wolfing down the treats. "It's just that I've only seen one scythe wielder of that skill before, a dusty old crow…"

Ruby then attempted to speak, but the mouthful of cookies muffled her words and sent crumbs everything, Ozpin arching a brow, the girl swallowing and chuckling nervously.

"Hehe, sorry!" Ruby apologized, "That's my uncle Qrow! He's a teacher at Signal. I was completely _garbage_ before he took me under his wing, and now I'm all like hooooo, watchaaa, hwoooo!"

Azure could only blink as he stifled an amused chuckle at Ruby's sounds and movements.

" _Frickin dork."_ Azure thought, Glynda looking at him with a suspicious eye, the teen only giving a whistle.

"And what's an adorable girl like you doing at a school designed to train warriors?" Ozpin asked, leaning on the table.

"Well, I want to be a Huntress." Ruby stated, Azure glancing at her as he rubbed his hands.

"You want to slay monsters?" Ozpin asked, glancing at Azure, gesturing with his head as if to say "You might want to listen to this."

"Yeah!" Ruby answered, "I only have two more years of training left at Signal, and then I'm going to apply to Beacon. See, my sister's starting there this year, and she's trying to become a Huntress! I'm trying to become a Huntress because I wanna help people! And our parents always taught us to help others, so I thought, eh y'know, might as well make a career out of it, hehe! I mean the police are alright, but Huntsman and Huntresses are just so much more romantic and exciting and cool and ahahaha y'know?!"

"Cute." Azure hummed.

"Do you know who I am?" Ozpin asked.

"You're Professor Ozpin, the headmaster at Beacon." Ruby answered.

"Hm, hello."

"Nice to meet you." Ruby politely nodded, Ozpin showing a small, amused smile.

"You want to come to my school?" Ozpin asked, Ruby nodding.

"More than anything!" Ruby answered, Ozpin glancing at Glynda then back at Ruby after the woman merely sighed with a nod.

"Well okay." Opzin answered, Ruby's expression changing to a wide grin, Azure sighing as she started shaking him in excitement.

"So what about me, why the heck am I sitting here handcuffed huh? Glynda mentioned my dad and, well… that'd be awkward." Azure asked swiping away the giddy girl's hands, Ozpin drawing his attention back to the young man.

"Yes well, about that." Ozpin stated, tapping a few things on the tablet he was holding. "I contacted him earlier and he filled me in he's actually well aware of this situation that let's say you've… been in for the past year since you returned."

Azure flinched a bit, Ozpin clearing his throat.

"Ms. Goodwitch, could you take Ms. Rose outside? We need to keep this conversation private." Ozpin said, Glynda nodding and gesturing for Ruby to follow her, the girl waving as she was led out, Azure gesturing to her, then looking at Ozpin as the door shut. "Let me see again… a year ago now Qrow found you on the outskirts of Vale. You spent a week in the hospital to recover from the injuries you'd incurred, and then near immediately transferred into Signal. Not to mention several cases of "extracurricular" activities."

"Qrow's told you a lot, hasn't he? And apparently my dad as well." Azure murmured, then leaning back, now spinning the handcuffs on a finger, having since freed himself from them, Ozpin sipping from his mug. "So?"

"Let me just say you've found yourself caught up in one complicated situation… one you don't necessarily need to be involved in yet." Ozpin said, Azure giving him a look. "But I see you won't simply be swayed from that easily… though I'd say an interrogation room in a police precinct is no place for us to discuss such things."

"If that's big of a deal then what's actually the deal huh?" Azure said, tossing the cuffs aside and sighing when Ozpin didn't even so much as change his expression. "And where do _you_ think a better place to be asking me these things would be?"

"Rather simple actually… at Beacon Academy. I mean we do already have the filled out application." Ozpin pulled out a stack of papers and set them onto the table, and Azure's eyes widened when he saw the stamp marked on the front page, one marked in a crescent moon emblem… his family's personal seal.

"When the heck did that happen?!" Azure yelped, grabbing the papers. "I mean I wasn't denying the idea but…"

"You haven't seen your parents in six years." Ozpin said, Azure resisting the urge to smash the paper without trying to. "It came in not that long ago with the seal put on it. Besides, I believe Beacon will be a good place for you to refine those skills of yours. Your father is actually going to start teaching there come the second semester… and considering your family's special, let's say traits, it'd be a prime chance for you both."

"What and drill me for questions about all kinds of things related to this past year?" Azure muttered, Ozpin just drinking more coffee. "Or should I be a bit more precise and say five years before last year?"

"I suppose you could say that." Ozpin said. "So, how about it? Will I be seeing you at Beacon?"

"Uuughhh." Azure hung his head as he sighed. "Well… I do have friends who are gonna be going there."

* * *

"And now I'm here."

Azure sighed as he looked down at Vale from the window of the airship he'd been hauled onto along with tons of other students going to Beacon, putting a hand over his eyes after scanning the crowd.

"That's where you went!"

Azure sighed again and lowered his hand, glancing over to see Ruby approaching, putting a hand on his hip.

"We're on an airship, were could I run off too?" Azure replied.

"Yeah but Ms. Goodwitch told me to keep an eye on you. She told me you're diligent and crazy enough to try jumping from an airship to get away." Ruby stated, Azure's eye twitching.

"Okay I'm not _that_ crazy… geez." Azure corrected, Ruby shrugging. "Besides, Glynda doesn't trust me as far as she can throw me! I'm not gonna run anyway… don't have a reason too."

"She mentioned something about not trusting you because of your dad… and that Uncle Qrow trained you. Still, this is so exciting! I can't believe I actually get to go to Beacon with all of you!" Ruby chuckled, Azure shrugging. "Oh come on, be more excited will ya? Think of all the fun we're gonna have since our little gang isn't gonna be broken up!"

"Yeah Argent's been bugging me about the Beacon thing for months now…" Azure muttered. "Least now he'll be quiet."

"There you are sis, where'd you go?" The blonde asked, the noticing Azure just behind Ruby. "Oh hey, sup Azure!"

"Hey Yang." Azure waved, Ruby chuckling.

"Obviously nowhere, just finding where he went off too. Last night was… busy." Ruby said, Yang immediately shooting a look at Azure.

"She doesn't mean anything weird Yang, geez. I was out doing something Qrow asked me to and, well, we ran into each other." Azure was effectively telling the truth, half-way. "It's not that big of a deal."

"Hmm, whatever. Still…" Yang then gave Ruby a crushing hug, the younger girl yelping. "My baby sister is going to Beacon with me! This is the best day ever!"

"Please stop…" Ruby choked out, Azure laughing behind a hand.

"But I'm so proud of you!" Yang said, stepping back and bouncing a bit. "I told Cin as soon as I could, but the darn grump didn't even react beyond his usual muttering. You know all that "Well I saw that coming" and the other stuff he spouts."

Yang's impression was comedically grovelly and deep, and from behind her, a certain shadow appeared, tapping the blonde's shoulder and making her yelp.

"First off, I sound nothing like that. Second, why would I be surprised? Since Qrow's trained her from scratch of course Ruby is better than everyone else in her year." Cin melded back into a normal look, Yang huffing as the Faunus boy casually leaned on a leg.

"You're such a killjoy bro!" Yang then headlocked Cin and started rubbing her fist between his ears. "C'mon, show some excitement for the little sis!"

" _Please_ stop grinding your knuckles there!" Cin tried to wrench himself free, but Yang was too strong for him to do that, Azure just watching and giving a chuckle.

"I still have a hard time believe that Qrow has a kid." Azure mused, Cin scoffing as he was finally released, fixing his hair.

"Adopted kid." Cin corrected, his cat ears twitching, then he palmed Ruby on the head and gave a snicker. "Still, rumors do fly fast. It's already flying around about the prodigy from Signal who got accepted early."

"Yeah it's totally awesome! Don't ya think Ruby? Everybody thinks you're totally special!" Yang said, the younger girl just giving a sigh.

"I don't want to be a prodigy!" Ruby said, stamping a foot. "I just want to be a normal girl who's nothing special!"

"To be entirely fair there's gonna be a lotta competition once we actually get there." Azure said, Ruby shoving him aside when he just chose to randomly pop up. "I kinda maybe sorta managed to sneak a look at the list of incoming students, and Pyrrha Nikos from Mistral is actually gonna be coming here."

"WHAT?! You mean that super talented girl who's already one a ton of tournaments?!" Ruby said, Azure nodding. "Coool!"

"Well that's setting a high bar for us first years off the bat." Cin noted, then peering behind Azure. "Also, might wanna looking behind you Azure."

"Eh?"

"Azzuuurreee brrooooo!"

"Oh shit…"

 _WHAM!_

Azure was within a mere moment tackled to the floor of the airship when Argent came barreling in from the crowd, the dark-blue haired young man feeling dazed as Argent yanked him up.

"What the hell man?! On the fence about Beacon for months and then you just join up out of the blue?" Argent heartily slapped Azure on the back, knocking the boy out of his daze. "You left your best buddy hangin' something bad bro!"

"Yeah uh… that's all very complicated… ow, I think you broke something." Azure hunched over a bit as he held his chest, Cin, Yang, and Ruby all chuckling.

"Pah you'll be fine! I mean I ain't like Rowan. If he tackled you I'm sure it'd _definitely_ break something." Argent casually smacked Azure on the back, the other teenager sighing. "But hey, it also means the whole gang's here! Actually, where did he… hey Rowan! Get over her man, I found him!"

It's not like one could say Rowan was _at all_ hard to find, because the moment the crimson haired young man stood up, he immediately came to tower over much of the crowd. The boys also gave Yang a telling look when the blonde gave a grin that was more than _just_ friendly… which Ruby seemed more than a bit oblivious too.

"Heyo guys." Rowan greeted, then patting Azure on the back himself, nearly knocking him over in the process. "Hahaha, see what'd I say Argent? Told ya' Azure would come around."

"I think you cracked something Rowan…" Azure muttered, now holding his back, Rowan putting a hand behind his head.

"Uh, sorry dude." Rowan said, looking down when Yang suddenly slid up to his side. "Uh, hey Yang."

"Hey big guy. Been a while since we last met huh?" Yang said, Rowan counting on his fingers.

"Pretty sure we last saw each other a couple hours ago at Signal." Rowan's remark got the other three boys to slap a hand to their foreheads in total synch, though Yang only looked amused. "But, well, it's cool that Ruby's coming here too."

"I know right! My little sis is just the best!" Yang went to squeezing Ruby again, the girl in the hood flailing to attempt to pull herself free before she was let go. "Well, I'll be off for a minute, gonna go find my other friends. Chat with you guys later! And hey Rowan, let's spar again once we get the chance!"

"And there she goes." Ruby said, folding her arms.

" _The robbery was lead by nefarious criminal Roman Torchwick, who continues to evade authorities. If you have any information on his whereabouts, please contact the Vale Police Department."_ A sudden news report got everyone to turn to a projected screen and listen in, and Azure very notably looked annoyed at that, Ruby glancing at him as Azure's left eye started twitching. _"Back to you Lisa!"_

" _Thank you Sirol."_ The report then changed to a woman, and the image on screen changed to footage of Faunus carrying signs in protest, and Cin's own look went sour as his arms folded, his fingers tight on his arms. _"In other news this Saturday's Faunus civil rights protest turned dark when members of the White Fang disrupted the proceedings. The once peaceful organization has now disrupted…"_

Before it got too far, and likely for the best as Cin's face was showing some barely contained rage in it, the image dropped, and in place of it, a hologram of Glynda rose up.

" _Hello and welcome to Beacon."_ Said Glynda, and Azure didn't have a doubt this same message was going to all the other ships carrying the rest of the students just entering the school. _"My name is Glynda Goodwitch. You are among a privileged few who have been selected to attend this prestigious academy. Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsman and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task. And now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world."_

"Don't let that fool you, Glynda is terrifying." Azure muttered, putting a hand behind his head. The chatter of students started back up again at the time, and Argent just put an arm around Azure's shoulder as he chuckled.

"Ah but look at the bright side my main man! We're gonna be at the damn best Huntsman Academy around! Not to mention us four hotshots here were Signal's Big Four! We're gonna be the talk of the campus!" Argent had gestured to Rowan and Cin as he spoke , and was also palming at the Panthera talon he had looped around his necklace. And as a particular kind of grin went to his face. "And with a lot like us around, imagine all the girls that are gonna be flockin' towards us! Especially you Azure, Mr. Heir-Apparent-to-the-dang-Aquarions!"

"I'm not really looking for romance at the moment." Azure muttered, moving Argent's arm off fo him.

"Oh boy here he goes again." Ruby murmured, Cin sighing as he put a hand over his face.

"But it's four years man! Four years of things to do all over while we work to become pure badasses!" Argent said, Rowan leaning on a leg as he hummed.

"I mean it sure sounds fun, but is now really the time to be looking for dates?" Rowan said, and when Argent gave a high pitched snicker, Cin then took the initiative to cover Ruby's ears, to the younger girl's confusion.

"Au contraire my tall friend! This is Beacon, and I've heard it's a _very_ stressful school. Hehehehe, I'm sure there's gonna be plenty of late night, _training sessions!_ Bow chicka bow wow!" Argent cackled, Cin releasing Ruby's ears and promptly smacking Argent upside the head.

"Never say that again." Cin bit with an audible snarl, Argent chuckling as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Hey man, I know my timing. If a double meaning is heard, I shall be there to punctuate it! Besides it's honestly true. Betting pool now, how many of us will still be virgins by year four?" Argent chuckled, Cin glaring at him.

"You're the worst kind of person you know?" Cin muttered, Ruby just tilting her head.

"Ah please, there's a difference between being the worst and appreciating a good dirty joke. And besides, we're all adults here, so why not have some adult humor fun eh?" Argent snickered.

"We're only seventeen moron. And I'll remind you of the fifteen-year-old as well." Cin growled, pointing at Ruby, who was now trotting off elsewhere. "Whatever."

"I mean being seventeen we are legal, so Argent's not exactly _wrong."_ Azure pointed out, shutting his right eye. "But again, ain't looking for romance… much less that. I mean if it happens it happens I guess."

"Sooo! Who wants to make bets?" Argent said, looking around the others, sighing when they didn't gve a word. "You guys suck. Oh yeah, hey, teams form in the first year right? What if we ended up on a team together eh?"

"I'm pretty sure they're chosen at random… I think." Azure said, humming in thought. "I know there's a practical test after orientation… maybe we'll form teams then?"

"Cool! So, potential team names!" Argent declared.

"You lost me during that last bit, where are we?" Rowan asked, snapping back from having zoned out while looking out the window, Cin sighing.

"The lunk head is coming up with hypothetical team names now… this is gonna be a long ride." Cin grumbled, covering his eyes. "Why are we even talking like we're actually gonna be on a team? It's all random chance."

"I mean you never know." Azure added.

"ACAR (Acer)!" Argent declared, Azure slapping a hand to his face.

"Not a color." Cin retorted.

"CAAR (Car)!"

"That's a vehicle! And stupid!" Cin snapped.

"RACA (Rocker)!"

"Still not a color." Azure said.

"RAAC (Rook)!"

"I don't think that would work either." Rowan quipped, Cin slapping his forehead.

"CRAA (Craw)!"

"Not even a word!" Cin snapped.

"CARA (Chara)!"

"NOT A COLOR!" Cin and Azure shouted at the same time, Argent cackling.

"This is gonna be an interesting four years… hehehe." Rowan chuckled, Cin and Azure continuing to shoot down Argent's attempts at a name as he kept going.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **And there! Hopefully aside from things like fights and such I can leave most of the chapters I've already done well and enough alone… with some new additions as I go through them. Had to leave that end part in though, way to much fun to have happen.**


	6. Chapter 6

ARCA

 **Chapter 6: A Shining Beacon**

"WHOAAAA! This place is so much freaking cooler up close!" Argent was the first of the many students to go careening out of the airship and down the main path to the towering Beacon Academy. The building was done in the style of a grand castle of old, the central building towering above everything else on the campus. Fitting for one of the grandest Huntsman academies in the world. The students who were arriving definitely weren't just other Signal students that was for sure.

"Well at least he's finally done spouting off team names ad nauseum… how did he not run out?" Cin grumbled, his arms behind his head, Argent snickering with his nose held high. "Don't act proud of that you idiot!"

"So we're supposed to head to the auditorium right?" Rowan had his Scroll open with a map of the campus open, Azure learning over and nodding as he scanned the map, their little cabal shifting along with the crowd now.

"Yeah. That's where the opening speech is gonna be. After that we'll tour the campus, meet some of the teachers, and then camp out in the ballroom. Tomorrow's gonna be the proctorial test where the teams'll be formed." Azure said, Rowan nodding. All of them looked over to Argent when he started snickering, and it didn't take much for them to see him scanning around at all the girls in the crowd going around the plaza. "What now Argent?"

"Hehehe… I'm just seeing new things. It's time to get out the Chick List again! I'm gonna get so many new entries!" Argent whipped out a small black book, the sight of it making Azure and Cin slap hands to their faces, while Rowan just started flipping through it.

"Why _do_ you have that list?" Rowan inquired, Argent snickering as he plucked back and shut the book, a small _clack_ sounding as the magnet seal flipped shut.

"Back at Signal it was a little-known thing that there was a gathering of guys who basically made their free time off of girl watching over training. I simply fed them info. Now I'd dare not venture into territory a man should not tread into lest he has a death wish… but then again guys that crazy are fountains of info." Argent spoke like he was discussing a highly secretive topic, Rowan however cocked a brow, and Cin looked about ready to throttle Argent where they stood.

"I have no idea what you're getting at Argent. At all." Rowan murmured.

"Ahh my innocent friend, as we enter adulthood soon you shall learn! But for now, keep it up!" Argent said, Cin pressing a hand onto his shoulder, causing Argent to start yelping. "OWOWOWOW! Claws! Cin your claws are out!"

"Of course they are!" Cin said, the smirk on his face anything but friendly. "Do we need to have that talk again eh?"

"Hah! I shall never be deterred!" Argent declared. Azure laughed along with Rowan, though when Azure heard a tune, he reached into his pocket and produced his own Scroll, and he was staring at a message that had shown up on it.

"Well I saw this one coming… uh, hey guys, I'll meet up with you at the auditorium, I've got something to take care of." Azure said, pocketing his scroll and starting to move off.

"Eh? What could that be? We just _got_ here!" Argent said, Azure putting a hand behind his head.

"Well it's at the head master's office soo…"

"We just got here!" Argent shouted again, Azure just scratching the back of his head.

"Don't worry guys it's not 'cause I'm in trouble… well, maybe, because I think it has to do with the other night but, well, it's not super important." Azure said, waving his hands as his friends stared at him. "Again, don't worry about it. It should only take a minute. I know Professor Ozpin pretty well for uh, obvious reasons. He won't keep me there for long what with all that's gonna happen today."

"Y'sure you don't want us to go with you?" Rowan said, Azure immediately shaking his head.

"Nope. Just go to the auditorium and I'll meet ya' there. You do not want Goodwitch getting onto you _this_ early into the year." Azure said, crossing his arms, clearly feeling a sense of urgency at that mere thought.

"Yeah let's just…" Cin broke off as he was scanning around, and his ears suddenly went flat on his head as his face scrunched up in what looked like a blend of surprise and horror, some of his hairs standing up to the point his hair suddenly got a lot fluffier. Then he started shoving Argent and Rowan along. "Okay right let's listen to Azure and let's go! See ya' at the auditorium! Oh, and if you see Ruby give her a hand, I saw Yang run off with her other friends earlier!"

"Wait Cin hold up man what're you… HEYYYY!" Argent started objecting as he became the sole victim of the shoving along, Rowan just shrugging and following along as Cin hurriedly left the plaza, which by this point had started clearing out quite a lot now.

Azure waved off to the other three as Cin got them to scram off. It was curious as to _why_ though, since Cin quite literally puffing up wasn't really something that could be called a common occurrence now. As he was about to move, Azure heard what was clearly an explosion, looking over to see Ruby standing at the edge of a small crater, just opposite of her being a rather annoyed looking girl with snow white hair and piercing ice blue colored eyes, Azure letting out a low breath as the panicking Ruby then looked around, her eyes setting onto her senior, waving her arms in a panic.

"Uh… uhm, Heyy! Azure!" Ruby called out, the white-haired girl blinking and looking off to where Ruby was waving, her eyes widening as she saw Azure, the young man sighing again and approaching.

"What happened Ruby?" Azure asked, brushing the soot off of Ruby's face as she kept flailing. "Stop flailing!"

"Well, I tripped and accidentally fell on her luggage, then there was Dust, some fire and… well now we're here and I don't know what to do!" Ruby hurriedly said, Azure sighing, one eye closed as he glanced over at the white-haired girl, who flinched a bit.

"Well… definitely been a long while." Azure said, the prissy girl's face going flush as she backed up again. "Uh, look, whatever happened I'm really sorry for my friend here. She can be a klutz."

"Hey!" Ruby whined was Azure put a hand on her head. "Wait… you know her?"

"No!"

"Yes."

Ruby just looked between the girl and Azure respectively as the opposing statements came out at near the same time, Azure giving a sigh as a hand went to his forehead.

"It's a long story." Azure muttered, the girl in white just huffing.

"As if I'd know who this… _ruffian_ is! Ugh, forget it." The girl grumbled, the servants with her picking up her things and leaving, Azure letting out a longer sigh as Ruby cocked her head.

"Who was _that?_ Geez, talk about a prissy princess. _"_ Ruby asked, though it wasn't Azure who answered her question…

"It's heiress, actually."

Azure and Ruby turned to the voice to see themselves faced with a black-haired girl who's catty golden eyes stood out, the girl closing a book and passing Azure a corked vial of red Dust with a snowflake symbol on it.

"Weiss Schnee. Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest producers of Dust in the world… and the rival family to the Aquarions here in Vale." The girl stated, Azure folding his arms after pocketing the Dust vial.

"Well, you're obviously well informed.

"Wait… rivals? So you _do_ know each other then?" Ruby asked, Azure nodding.

"Again, it's a long story. Weiss and I… well let's just say we _were_ friends… then I went missing for five years." Azure murmured, Ruby wincing a bit.

"Oh, right. Sorry. So, what's…" Ruby turned to face the black-haired girl, but she'd already wandered off by then, Ruby hanging her head, "Never mind, I guess."

"Welcome to Beacon I guess." Azure scoffed, rubbing the back of his head as Ruby slumped to the ground, "Well today's already and we've only been here for ten minutes."

"It sucks." Ruby muttered, standing back up and brushing her skirt off. "Sooo… what now?"

"The entrance speech and orientation. But I've got a thing to do before then. I need to go see Ozpin in his office to carry with our talk from the other day." Azure said, tapping Ruby on the shoulder as he started leaving. "The auditorium isn't far from here, just follow the rest of the students alright!"

"Hey, wait a second! Azure! Come on, at least get me there first!" Ruby called out, hanging her head again as Azure had blinked off. "And there he goes… okay so, where do I go from here?"

* * *

Azure finished flicking through his Scroll as the elevator finally came to a halt at the highest floor of the central tower of Beacon, the doors opening with a ding, Azure immediately being met by Glynda on sight, Ozpin waiting at his large desk.

"Azure, good of you to come." Ozpin nodded, Azure pocketing his hands as he approached, "Though I suppose considering what happened before, this was more or less expected by you."

"Eh, I figured as much when you suggested I show up here." Azure remarked, "So if we're carrying on from then, what is it you really want to know huh?"

"Considering you _were_ missing for five years, anything about that." Ozpin said, leaning back in his chair. "Is there anything you _can_ remember? Qrow told me your memories have been hazy, and it took some time for you to regain your original memories. Forgive me for prying but I couldn't help but feel curious about what else you could remember."

"Well… I don't actually remember much. Whenever I try to think about anything from between when… _that_ happened and when I snapped out of it, it's all fuzzy." Azure muttered, sighing. He didn't see a reason to keep it a secret really. "I just remember feeling like I was asleep. There were moments where it felt like I was waking up, but then I got pulled back down into it, and everything that remained dark. It's… all I can remember about that. Mostly."

"Does it have to do with why you were chasing Roman Torchwick?" Glynda asked, Azure tensing up a bit, Glynda then pulling up files, "Within this past year since you reappeared, you've managed to apprehend some of the most dangerous criminals in Vale, both in and out of the main city. All of this _despite_ being a student at Signal the entire time. And, let's see, ah yes. The article published once the public learned you were indeed alive. "Missing Aquarion Heir Resurfaces in Vale." It was all speculation since you were in the hospital for quite some time."

"Sixteen years old, and you were already doing things you by no right _should_ be capable of doing." Ozpin stated, "Even as an Aquarion, you went missing before your training could properly begin, but thanks to Qrow you developed an impressive skillset, what with that interesting combination of weapons you have."

"Huh, I've managed to impress Professor Ozpin, goodie for me." Azure hummed, his right eye shut. "So… what else?"

"Well, it's clear to me at the least, this topic does trouble you a bit." Ozpin said, Azure raising a brow at him, the man chuckling. "Well I just stated the obvious. I don't wish you to feel uncomfortable, I honestly just want to help you as best I can. If you honestly can't remember anything, then you're free to go and rejoin your friends. You can move on for now and just be a student at Beacon. I promise that while you're here, you can put aside this chase of yours and be a normal teenaged boy… though I doubt that's fully convincing for you."

"Not really." Azure muttered, shaking his head. He really couldn't fully recall anything in that gap in his mind… but, there was something. "Actually… there is something. A name. Salem."

The moment that name left Azure's mouth, he felt like a dark weight now hung on the room. Glynda's eyes went wide as plates, and even Ozpin seemed to tense up at the mere name being spoken aloud.

"What? You know something don't you?! You know who Salem is?!"

"Mr. Aquarion, please calm down." Glynda waved Azure down as he suddenly jumped, the woman suddenly behaving a lot more gently about it than harsh. "You saying that name alone is enough. I know you must want to know but…"

"Right now, knowing who Salem is wouldn't be of any help to you." Ozpin said, Glynda backing off, Azure looking at the headmaster with an almost offended look. "I don't mean to keep secrets, but please understand Azure. What you just confirmed for me has much weight to it… I was worried this would be the case, and now that I know it's true. I will not pry further though… I doubt there's anything else you remember about this, yes?"

"N-No… I don't." Azure said. "The name is all I have. Everything else is just a massive blur."

"Alright. I'll be sure to discuss this with others, don't worry." Ozpin said. "Now, as for the other point. While I do presume you chasing Roman Torchwick was just you taking on another job as expected, that the hunt itself had more to it, something to do with your hunt for this mysterious past you now have, yes?"

"Pretty much." Azure said, giving a sigh, looking equal parts concerned and suspicious now.

"While I won't reprimand you for doing what any Huntsman do, I will be clear in saying as a student at Beacon, please try not to get into those kinds of messes during your duration here." Ozpin said, tapping the table. "From now on you'll now longer be a lone wolf going about doing as you will. You'll have a team, comrades. Which means you can't just be all willy nilly and run off whenever you please."

"Yeah yeah I get it." Azure muttered, ignoring the disapproving look Glynda gave him. "So can I go now? The opening ceremony is soon right? Neither of us really have time to waste now do we?"

"Of course. You're free to go."

"I'll go then. See you another time Professor."

With that, Azure left. Once the elevator shut, Ozpin leaned back in his chair, his hands tented in front of his mouth. Clearly, what had been revealed by Azure wasn't sitting well with the man at all.

"Professor Ozpin…" Gldyna said, clearing her throat. "With what he said… whoever Azure is trying to find is no doubt exceptionally dangerous."

"I know. And if what Qrow said is true… that same person might just be the one who took half of Autumn's powers." Ozpin let out a long breath, folding his arms in turn. "Seems asking Cyan to start teaching her come the next term was a smart idea after all."

* * *

"Something's up… Ozpin obviously knows who this Salem person is… hmm… somebody who he has a past with? Possibly. Not even dad or Qrow know a lot about Ozpin's entire past. But both of them trust him… would it be wrong for me to be that suspicious? If he's keeping secrets, then there has to be a reason right?" Azure sighed as he wandered the path on his way the auditorium a bit, trying to at least have these thoughts sorted out before he did. Didn't want to go through the rest of the day in a bad mood after all. "I'll worry about it later. I should… shit I told Cin I'd help Ruby… she didn't get lost did she? Ahhh crap! If Cin finds out he and Yang are gonna kill me!"

"Oh! Heyyy! Azure, over here!"

"THANK THE GODS!"

With that and a relieved sigh, Azure turned and saw Ruby trotting over to him, and somewhat surprisingly, with her was another teenager. Blonde, blue eyed, average looking with kinda rough armor over normal clothing, and it was merely a chest plate and shoulder pads. At the teenager's waist was a metal sheath holding it's sword, but even from here Azure could tell how old the thing had to be.

"Hey, what're you doing over here? It thought you and the guys were going… ah! This is about last night isn't it!" Ruby said, Aure rubbing the back of his head again. "I knew it! Come on come on, what did you and Ozpin talk about? Was it some uber important stuff? Oh I bet it was cool secrets huh?"

"Stop jumping around for a minute please." Azure grabbed out and stopped Ruby by her hood, the energetic younger girl stopping in place like a dog who'd been grabbed the scruff. "Thank you. And no I'm not gonna tell you because let's say its confidential alright?"

"Ahhh come on! Why do you guys get all the cool stuff to happen around you?" Ruby whined, flailing her arms about.

"Says the girl who made it into Beacon two years early." Azure flicked Ruby on the forehead as he made the point, and both looked over when the other boy coughed loudly.

"Hey uh, so sorry to interrupt but uh… what?" The boy said, Ruby chuckling.

"Oh, right sorry! Azure here is just one of my seniors from Signal… well I guess you're not anymore since we're in the same year at Beacon now but… well, we're good friends! Best friends! If you meet Argent don't let him fool you! Azure's best friend is me!"

"Down girl." Azure chopped Ruby on the back of the head, the girl flopping to the side. "Sorry about that, she's kind of always hopped up like that. Nice to meet you, the name's Azure Aquarion."

"EH?! You mean… you're _that_ guy?! What?! Ruby you didn't tell me you knew somebody famous!" The boy snapped, Ruby just rubbing her head as she looked confused.

"I mean is it that big of a deal? Sure Azure's family is crazy rich and they have all those contracts with Atlas and blah-dy blah, but Azure's just Azure!" Ruby said, tapping Azure on the back, to which he just sighed at how she was behaving.

"Ruby you may not care but some people do. But, well, I'd like it if I wasn't treated weirdly cause of my family's status." Azure admitted, the teen just nodding rapidly.

"Oh yeah! No, I-I totally get it y'know! Hehehe… you know what never mind. _Ahem,_ the name's Jaune Arc, nice to uh… meet you too I suppose." Jaune put out a hand, and Azure took the offered shake easily and firmly, Jaune then looking downright shocked. "Holy crap I just shook hands with an Aquarion…"

"Don't get weird on me now please… I've met some really weird people."

"Ah, no, it's just… dude your dad is like one of the best Huntsman of all time! Every kid who wants to be one worth their _salt_ looks up to the guy!" Jaune said, throwing out his arms. "And you're his _freaking son!_ Don't you know how much that puts on a person?!"

"Not really no." Azure then let out a breath, thinking unpleasant things now about _why_ he didn't feel concerned about that. "Lets not dwell on it please? So, since I am _assuming_ you two are all the way over here because you're _lost,_ I'll take ya' to the auditorium."

"… wait where are we anyway?" Ruby said, Azure slapping his forehead. "Ehehe… we'll follow you Azure, lead the way!"

"I think that'll be best." Jaune said, Azure nodding as he led off. As the walk started, Jaune looked over and took note of the weapons slung at the back of Azure's belts, and then also to Ruby's folded up weapon… and to his own sword which seemed all too boring in comparison to what the other two had.

"Hey so, speaking of Huntsman stuff, what kind of weapon you got?" Ruby said, bringing the topic up oh so innocently. "For me, I've got this."

With a twirl from it, Ruby extended her scythe out and put it over her shoulders, Jaune jumping with a shout, Azure just brushing the weapon to the side when it swung a bit too close to him as she swung it into a somewhat proper hold.

"Whoa?! I did _not_ expect that! What… what is it? I mean I know it's a scythe but…" Jaune said, Ruby happily twirling the scythe again.

"It's also a highly customizable, high impact sniper rifle."

"Uh what?"

"It's also a gun. Oh, and I call it Crescent Rose. It's kinda my little baby."

Ruby cocked the rifle's lever to punctuate the point. Jaune then glanced over to Azure, who sighed and when whipped out his own weapons as Ruby stored hers, the two blades folding out smoothly, Jaune looking between them.

"Swords? Uh… I can guess they're _both_ also guns?" Jaune said, Azure chuckling, flicking the left hand sword into it's respective gun form with the simple click of a button.

"This one is. Its name is Overture. It's an improvement on a pretty common gunblade type in Atlas elite soldiers use." Azure said, Jaune looking to the other sword. "This one is… just a sword. That loads up Dust Cartridges for various effects."

"What kind of sword does _that?!"_

"This sword. It's called Requiem."

"You clearly had a theme going on with that." Jaune hummed, Azure chuckling as she stored both his weapons with practiced movements. "So… I got uh… a sword. And a shield."

Jaune drew out the ascribed tools, the sheath at his waist folding outwards into the shield, Ruby giving a hum, Azure more intent at looking the blade over. His sharp, practiced eyes took in each detail of it as he did.

"Cool. So uh, what do they do?" Ruby asked, poking at the shield, causing it to jump around a bit.

"Uh, well, the shield gets smaller, and holds the sword. So when I don't wanna use it, I can just put it away." Jaune said, giving a nervous chuckle.

"Wouldn't it weigh the same though?" Ruby asked, Jaune hanging his head.

"Yeah it does."

"Ehehe… well, I'm kind of a geek when it comes to weapons, so I may have gone a _bit_ overboard with Crescent Rose." Ruby said, Jaune looking at her in surprise.

"Wait, you designed that thing?"

And now Azure and Ruby looked like they'd just met a crazy person, both looking at Jaune in utter confusion at his surprise that was the case for Ruby and the weapon she was so prideful for having made _and_ having the skills to use well.

"Uh… yeah. Every student at Signal designs their weapon. It's the big year long project for first years." Ruby stated, then looking proud. "I will have you know I got top marks for that thanks to my baby!"

"I'm gonna guess those are hand me downs." Azure said, Jaune nodding.

"Yeah, they are. My great-great grandfather used them to fight in the war." Jaune said, Azure giving a low hum. "What?"

"That'd explain the condition it's in. Mind if I see the sword?" With a nod, Jaune handed the sword to Azure, who flipped it over a couple of times in his grip, even giving it a solid swing. "Well it's balance is fine but… the blade needs to be sharpened and oiled, maybe new plating entirely going by all the cracks it has. That shield needs some touching up too. The release mechanism is loose, so it might pop open when you really don't want it to. You didn't take these to a smith before coming here?"

"Uh… no." Jaune took the sword back and stored it, and again Azure and Ruby were looking at him like he was a mad person. "Should I have?"

"YES!" Both the weapon geeks shouted at the same time, Azure in the lead. "Weapon care is one of the most important things to being a Huntsman or Huntress-"

"Because your weapon is an extension of yourself! Passed down or not, a weapon needs to be properly taken care of!" As she was shouting, and finishing the sentence for that matter, Ruby had jumped up onto Azure's back as Azure had gotten into Jaune's face, both bearing eyes with almost manic looks to them. "If your weapon isn't maintained then-"

"It could fail you when you need it most! A dull blade with old plating isn't gonna do a thing against an Ursa's hide!" Azure then hummed, tilting his head. "If your gear is like that, how'd you ever pass the entrance exam? You only get into Beacon through recommendation or passing the test, and it is _not_ an easy one!"

"I mean some people take it because it's hard. My sister had good enough grades and merits from teachers to get into Beacon easy, but she took the test to show off." Ruby said, still not getting off of Azure, practically using him as a perch.

"Oh uh… hehehe, connections I guess? I uh… yeah I got in through a recommendation! I've uh… I guess you could say I'm just a-a rough diamond y'know? Hehehehe…"

"Recommendation from _who?"_ Azure asked, Jaune freezing up… and then Azure nearly screamed. "CRAP! The entrance ceremony! If we take any longer we're gonna be late!"

"AGH! Hurry hurry let's go! Forward march!" Ruby shouted, hopping off of Azure and shooting off, Azure hot on her heels.

"You guys uh, go ahead, I'll catch up." As the two ran off, Jaune let out a loud sigh, sinking down a bit. "Oh man that was a close one! Man… he's a nice guy, but smart people like that find things out too quickly. Whatever, just, play it cool. Yeah! I'm sure I can impress the guy somehow! I just made a couple of friends, I can't have them get suspicious of me!"

* * *

"Ohh thank the gods we made it!" Azure let out a sigh as he and Ruby came screeching to a halt at the door of the packed auditorium, Jaunt behind them but clearly winded like no tomorrow.

"Holy… cow… you two are way too fast!" Jaune panted, Ruby already scanning the crowd.

"Heyyy! Ruby, Azure! We saved you guys spots!" Yang came calling from a few rows down, Ruby and Azure spotting her waving at them, and a couple of empty seats down from her were Argent, Rowan, and Cin, the last of which for some odd reason had his jacket's hood up despite being, well, indoors.

"Well good thing we have good friends." Azure said.

"Yep! Well, see ya later Jaune, we gotta go!" Ruby said, both she and Azure waving off to Jaune before shooting to the seats that were saved for them. "Ahh, just in time!"

"How's your first day goin' little sister?" Yang said, Ruby glaring at the older girl.

"You mean since you ditched me and I exploded?!" Ruby said, Yang wincing.

"Yikes, meltdown already?" Yang said, Cin sighing.

"Maybe don't your little sister in the first place Yang." Cin sniped, thankfully too far away for any kind of retaliation from Yang due to strategic placement on his part.

"She kinda means exploded in the literal sense." Azure added, Yang raising a brow at him.

"What does he mean?" Yang asked, Ruby sighing.

"It just happened fast! I tripped over some crabby girls luggage, there was some Dust waving in my face, some fire, maybe some ice? And then the girl yelled at me! I sneezed and then exploded, then she yelled at me again! I felt really bad and I really just wanted her to stop yelling at me!"

"YOU!"

"Oh god it's happening again!"

As Weiss made it known _she_ was just a seat down past Yang, Ruby jumped to her sister's arm, the boys angling out at sequential angles to look at the heiress.

"You're lucky we weren't blown off the side of the cliff!" Weiss snapped.

"Oh my god you really exploded." Yang murmured.

"Well maybe don't wave Dust in people's faces." Azure quipped, Weiss looking as if she was electing to ignore his very existence. "Look it was an accident… also you might want this back."

"Eh?!" Weiss flinched a bit as Azure produced the vial of red Dust he'd gotten from the black haired girl, and he fiddled with the cork on it a bit before tightening it with a small push. "Give that back!"

"Just at least make sure the things are closed properly." Azure said, leaning back into his seat after Weiss swiped the vial away from him. "You'd think a Schnee would put priority to proper Dust safety usage."

"HUH?!" Argent immediately made a noise as Azure said that, Weiss huffing and turning away… though she was stuck in place due to the auditorium now being fully packed. When Argent spoke again, he was outright hissing into Azure's ear. "Yo, Azure, the hell dude?! I know your family's in good with Atlas, especially the military, but how'd you know she's a Schnee?"

"It's a long, loooong story." Azure muttered, leaning on a hand. "One that may not be worth talking about now." Azure glanced over again, and caught Weiss giving him a cold glare before she just huffed.

"Well I guess there's no talking to her now huh?" Yang remarked, Ruby hanging her head as she sighed.

"I detect trace amounts of bitch and spoiled rich girl. Bad combination. Hmm… shame too. She's slender but her face and legs make up for it-GUFAGH!" Argent coughed as Azure whacked him upside the head with a closed fist. "OW!"

"There's a reason for everything as some say." Azure remarked, Argent just holding where he got smacked. But, the chatter of the first years was soon to fall silent as Ozpin and Glynda took the stage, Ozpin clearing his throat and the eyes of all the hopefuls turning to the professor as he scanned the crowd.

"I'll keep this brief." Ozpin started, adjusting his glasses slightly, "You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you, to take the first step."

Short and simple, Ozpin walking away from the microphone nearly as soon as he had stepped up to it, the short "speech" catching the students off guard, many clearly having been expecting more than just being called out for their youthful lack of proper direction, though the looks of bewilderment soon returned to the stage as Glynda tapped the microphone to again get the students' attention.

"You will all split off into groups based on seating section. From here I and several other teachers will take you around the campus and show you the facilities you will be using for both your normal classes and training. Beacon will be your home for the next four years, so it will be best for you to know as much about it as you can. After that you are free to do as you wish around campus for the remainder of the day so long as you don't bother your seniors' classes. Tonight you will gather in the ball room. You're initiation begins tomorrow. Be ready." Glynda then took the mic and stepped down in front of one group, the one where the main posse was. And with a small wave of her hand, several more teachers came on out. "This group will follow me. We'll take the lead, come along now."

"Well at least we're getting an actual campus tour." Rowan said, poking at his Scroll as the group all shuffled after Glynda as she led each seated row out at a time. "Good thing I downloaded a map too. Argent?"

"Hah! I don't need a map. I _am_ Signal's best tracker. I can track a Beowolf with only the smallest of hints after all!" Argent said, putting a hand to his chest with a prideful snicker. "… granted a map is always helpful so I'll download it anyway."

"You flip gears so hard I'm worried you'll grind to a stop at some point." Cin quipped, tugging at his hood as he looked around. "Tch, why's she in the same damn group?"

"What's got you so riled up? You're actually kinda twitchy." Azure said, Cin just muttering.

"It's nothing. Nothing at all." Cin didn't get much more before Yang yanked him into a headlock, even as they were all walking along the outside now. "Yang, knock it off!"

"Nope! Whenever you get like this bro, it's my job to knock you out of it!" Yang chuckled, Cin making angry growls as she grinded her knuckles into his skull.

"That does nothing!" Cin snapped, knocking himself free of Yang's iron grip, rubbing the now sore spot on his head.

"Hehehe… welcome to Beacon then eh?" Azure mused, looking up to the tower as their group passed it by. _"Ozpin… I want to trust you like dad and Qrow, but… what is it you're hiding? Salem… you know who she is, and have some kind of past connection to her, don't you? There's more going on than you want to say… and I guess I've wound up dragged into it, haven't I?"_

* * *

 **A/N**

 **Ahh that moment when you can use continuity to have fun with things. Hehehe. Enough I can have plenty of fun building on some things and doing some more. Time for a tour of the Beacon campus now eh?**


	7. Chapter 7

_ARCA_

 **Chapter 7: The Shining Beacon**

The tour of the Beacon campus for the group of first years began as such. Leaving the auditorium building, and thanks to handy Scroll maps, one could view a 3D rendition of the campus as they followed along the path for the tour, a thing which Azure was currently doing. Fitting to the large space the campus had, and the fact it was built to accommodate students for four whole years who'd be staying from the ages of 17 to 21, it was quite the varied place.

Five different dorm buildings stood dominating the western end of the campus, four of them for the students of each successive year, and a fifth that was only used on rare occasions and as such, most of the time was always closed off. Situated a bit of a ways from the main campus, considering the size of the student body and the number of staff, the dorm area was more like a small residential district where they all lived in the respective buildings, the teachers getting a particular building all their own separate from the "main" body of the student dorms.

The main portion of the campus was taken up by the massive main building, the castle like structure that stood high enough to be one of Vale's most famous landmarks, home to all of the classrooms and other facilities that the students would have access too. Near the main building was the fittingly large cafeteria, and not far from that was also the sparring arena where combat training would without a doubt take place. And not to far from the dorms was another building marked as the ballroom, the place where all the first years would find themselves crammed into for the night.

A couple more structures were ones Azure made sure to leave markers on for later note. Particular among them was one marked "Huntsman Hall", a place that the name alone told him was a place where the professional Huntsman and Huntresses could gather, and even more particularly, a massive tower, the Cross Continental Transmit System Tower, the source of the kingdom's personal connection to the world-wide communications system.

"You really kinda underestimate how freaking huge this campus is huh?" Azure aid, closing the map and pocketing his Scroll.

"Seriously man, it's like this place is as much a small town as it is a school." Argent remarked, opening his own Scroll to look at the map himself. "Five dorms? Why do we need five dorm buildings?"

"Likely for the Vytal festival. Beacon Academy is going to be hosting it this time, so those things are gonna be used again for the first time in a long while no doubt." Cin said, his hood still up and keeping his face relatively hidden.

"Seriously?! Sweet! That means we get to meet a bunch of foreign students!" Argent cheered, throwing a fist up. "Wait… a dorm building that's normally empty for years on end… a campus with people in their late teens to very early twenties… hehe, I know what _that_ gets used for! Bow-chika-OWWWW!"

Argent didn't even get it out before Cin punched him in the side, Azure sighing while Rowan covered his mouth to hold back a laugh.

"Was he doing it again?" Ruby asked, Cin nodding while Argent muttered under his breath.

"He never learns huh? You've got some weird friends sis." Yang said, Ruby just pursing her lips as she looked to the side and pouted. "Ahh come on, your friends are plenty fine!"

"I can't say much the same about some of yours." Ruby muttered, struggling a bit as Yang pulled her sister into a headlock. "Yang stop it!"

"Enough with the chatter!" Glynda called out loudly, and any banter that was getting to noisy cut out immediately. "I see several of you have Scrolls out. I do hope you were reviewing the campus map and not texting friends or playing games. We're going to begin with a tour of the halls of the main building. I will remind you that your upperclassmen, even at this time, are busy preparing for the next few days as the semester begins. Do try not to interrupt them in what they're doing."

"Yes ma'am!" Was a collective response, Glynda nodding.

"Good, now let's begin."

* * *

The lecture hall section of the building was as large was one could expect for a place where so many students would be packed in every year. Hallways that gave a sense of the academia, lecture halls tiered enough to hold dozens of students in them at once with plenty of space for the teachers to roam in and discuss.

You had the basic lectures halls, a science lab or two, one lecture room lined to the brim with Grimm trophies from masks to talons, and diagrams of different Grimm were already up and ready on the blackboards.

"Taking images of THAT during lecture." Argent noted, immediately righting himself when Glynda's riding crop lashed.

"And right here is Professor Port's classroom. Here you'll be studying Grimm, as you can see. Things like anatomy, various habits different species show, and the best ways to deal with each one you'll come across." Glynda spoke, the students of the group a lot keener to listen to this kind of subject. It _is_ what they were here for after all. "What you'll learn here will be far more in depth than the basics taught to you at the combat schools you visited before. For those of you who came here to Beacon by other means, don't worry, the basics will be covered in the first few weeks. I would introduce you all to Professor Port, but he's touring another group at the time."

"'scuse me, Ms. Goodwitch?" Argent called out, throwing a hand up.

"Go ahead."

"We're gonna get to cover some of the more specialized Grimm types right? Y'know, like Wyrms, Apathies, Griffins, maybe the Sphinx?" Argent said, Glynda adjusting her glasses as for a _single_ moment, she seemed mildly surprised.

"I'm surprised you know about those species. Mr…"

"Gunmetal ma'am! Argent Gunmetal, 4th in the class at Signal!"

"Ah yes, one of Qrow's students… you'll be trouble, no doubt…" Glynda adjusted her glasses again as she sighed. "While you _will_ learn about those species eventually, they're not on the Grimm Studies course for first years. You're all free to do your own research however, and it would do you well to do as Mr. Gunmetal has and look up these more advanced species if you so wish. Having information on your foe is never a bad thing. Now, let's move on."

"I always forget how much you know about Grimm." Rowan commented, Argent snickering as he put his arms behind his head.

"I think it's just a _tad_ scary." Cin remarked, pulling his hood up more after glancing behind him. "Shit…"

"What's got you so riled up?" Azure remarked, Cin hissing.

"Nothing!"

* * *

"Now I can tell some of you have been looking forward to this one: Welcome to the combat arena. This is where all of your combat instruction will take place. You'll all get well acquainted with this place soon enough." Glynda gestured out to the grand space in front of all of the aweing students, many of them now chattering as they looked around.

The arena wasn't huge persay, but had enough space it allowed for multiple groups of senior students who were seen below to spar against each other without worry of even coming close to nearing another group. The stands were numerous, enough to easily hold the entire student body and more in them. Looking up, one could see that while it was open now thanks to the pleasant spring time weather, a retracted roof was visible, which was likely to be pulled closed during rainy days or winter time.

Of course what had the gaggle of first year's attention was the senior students sparring down below. It was clear to those with keener eyes for this sort of thing, like say Azure, that their upperclassmen were definitely well above them in skill and no doubt had far more experience in the field as well.

"So, do students from different years spar together or is that all separate?" Azure asked, Glynda glancing at the sparring students below.

"During free slots here there's no restriction on who can and cannot spar here. Plenty of students get mentored by their upperclassmen along with the teachers and their lessons. It's valuable to learn from your peers as much as teachers, so do your best to make good relations with your seniors." Glynda said, and Ruby was bouncing as she watched the sparring below.

"So cool! Look at all the weapons!" Ruby was pressing into the glass of the barrier as she watched the senior students spar, Rowan leaning over and humming to look himself… not that that was a difficult thing for him to do.

"Interesting… lots of different fighting styles to. They're all pretty well trained." Rowan remarked, a small grin showing as he cracked his knuckles. "I'd like to spar against some of them, that's for sure!"

"Ah, I was wondering what the sudden commotion was! Some of the newbies huh? Neat lot you have with you, Ms. Goodwitch!" The entire group's head turned when seemingly just out of nowhere, a new girl showed up. She was notably quite fashionably dressed, her outfit good looking yet still plenty practical, mostly in various shades of brown ranging from a light shade for the shirt and darker shades elsewhere. A black hat sat over her relatively short brawn hair, it's longest part of a length at the right of her face, which faded to a caramel shaded tip. The girl angled down sunglasses to show her eyes were a bright chocolate brown, and the look in them said she was scanning over the first years.

"Ah Ms. Adel, rather good timing of you." Glynda said, looking to the crowd. "Allow me to introduce you all to Coco Adel, the top in her class for the current second years."

"Sup! As Ms. Goodwitch said, the name's Coco Adel. I'm the leader of team CFVY. Nice to meet all of you. Looks like we've got a nice crop of fresh meat this year." Coco waved at the lot, various exclamations coming from the first year. Coco lowered her glasses again as she scanned the crowd, then humming. "Ah! There! The pretty boy with the blue hair and silver eyes! Come over here will ya? I want a better look at you."

"Alright." Azure shrugged and stepped up past the crowd, and almost instantly, Coco grabbed him by the arm. The older girl started moving his limbs about as she looked over his clothes and equipment that hadn't been removed from his person so far, her murmurings not really audible, and one thing that could be noticed by sharp eyes being a brief moment of a light brown pulse moving from Coco's hand, causing a spark over the sleeve of Azure's jacket.

"Ohhh? Interesting. You've got military grade dust-weave on you. Now how would a newbie like you get your hands on that kind of kit huh?" Coco had a coy smile on as she put a hand to her chin, Azure looking to the side as he put a hand behind his head.

"I… have some connections." He answered, getting a laugh out of Coco.

"Well of course you do! I'd be surprised if the Aquarion heir couldn't get his hands on some good stuff." Coco clapped a hand onto Azure's shoulder, the young man going wide eyed. "Don't be surprised if we know you alright kid? Your dad teaches here every other semester. That and the news about _you_ traveled fast. I don't think a person in Vale doesn't know about you!"

"Ahahaha… yeah probably." Azure chuckled, looking to the side again before correcting it to look Coco in the eye. "Either way, nice to meet you."

"Pleasure's mine! If you or any of your pals wanna spar with me and my team, feel free to ask!" Coco took Azure's hand in a firm shake before turning off to head down into the arena. Azure was already feeling stares at the back of his head, sighing as he shifted back to fold into the group and return to his friends. One of those stares was coming from Argent.

"Seriously dude?" Azure muttered, Argent nodding. "Let's just focus on this."

* * *

"Now, I'm sure this is the one many of you have been waiting for _especially_ : Allow me to welcome you to the workshop."

The reactions from much of the students was as loud as could be expected, beat out of course by Azure and Ruby's hollers of joy. The building the group had been taken too was a short way from the arena, and was large in and of itself. Spread before all of them on the hard concrete floor of the ware-house sized space were dozens upon dozens of work tables, and everything one could imagine for modern weapon construction: Presses and laser cutters for shaping metal, sharpening stations for blade maintenance, boring components, everything and anything one would need. Be it from bladework, firearms, and anything else.

Like at the arena, senior students were out and about, some prepping the stations while others were working on their own weapons. Striding among the lot was no doubt another teacher. The build behind the blacksmith-style attire of a heavy long sleeved shirt and leather apron told it was a man, but the welding mask hid his features. Yet even among the sounds of machinery his booming voice could be heard loud and clear.

"Sky, get that gunsmith station checked over! Malard, make sure the sharpening tools are good and smooth! And where the freaking hell are those components I ordered?!" The man flipped the mask up, revealing that his face bore a thick, salt-and-pepper beard that popped out a bit after being free of the mask, while the man's hair was still coal black with only a streak of silver marking it. And then his eyes, standing out like orange flames amid the shade cast by his hair. "Ugh, always hate the start of the year… ahh, Glynda! Giving some of the new kids the tour ehh?"

"Of course. Good to see things are going well here." Glynda said, the burly man giving a hearty chuckle as he approached the students, removing his welding mask and gloves, which exposed the heavy callousing of his large hands. "Allow me to introduce you all to Beacon's Head of Engineering. He'll be the one overseeing your advanced weaponsmithing courses, as well as the one you'll go to for maintenance or improvements."

"Hey there kiddos! The name's Coal Flameheart, and I'll be your go to man for anything weapon related while you're here." The man said, a hearty laugh rumbling from him. "Now I know most of ya' must be proud of the weapons you made during combat school, and I'm sure there's some _fine_ pieces of kit you have with you. But let me lay this out: Improving that weapon is essential! Don't think it's perfect the way it is, because you can always make it better. New metals, faster transitions for those of you with the fancier ones, hell, some of ya' may feel the need to make new weapons entirely to add to your options as the years go on, that's all up to you! Anything and everything is possible. Your weapon is your partner among partners, thing'll save your life countless times, so make sure it will always be able to do that."

"I like this guy already." Azure said, Ruby only stopped from bouncing like a ball because Yang had put a hand on her little sister's head.

"Hmm… lookin' at the lotta ya… aha! You there, blonde kid in the hand-me down armor!" Coal's scanning through the crowd led to him pointing out Jaune, the blonde young man _trying_ to shrink away. "Ah c'mon now don' be shy lad. Don't worry, I ain't gonna embarrass you in front of all the class. I just wanna see what you got."

"U-Uhm, okay." Jaune gulped as he started to step forward. He felt a sudden pit in his stomach as he approached the large man, and he sighed as he pulled the sword and shield/sheathe of his waist "It's uh… kind of a family pass-down."

"Ah, a classic design eh? Fire-arm hybrids are pretty common nowadays, but nice to see someone toting around a classic." Coal's hearty reply earned a nervous chuckle from Jaune. He could feel everyone looking at him, yet somehow he also felt Azure and Ruby staring in particular. _Somehow_ those two had the most intense eyes out of anybody in this crowd. Coal drew the sword out of the sheathe, which he also popped open into it's shield form… that and the man's size made the two relatively typically sized weapons look _small_ in his hands. "Hmm… well definitely seeing the age in this thing. Blade needs some work, heck you could just outright replace the plating, would be easier than sharpening… though touching up will hold you for a while. And the shield… the spring's loose. This thing could pop open with a good whack alone. How long has this thing been kept in a chest huh?"

"Uhm… I-I don't know." Jaune murmured, a hand behind his head. "I just sorta… took it with me."

"Hmm… well it won't do for you to go into initiation with a tool out of care." Coal slide the sword back into the shield and forced the thing shut, bouncing it a bit. "What's your name lad?"

"J-Jaune Arc, sir."

"Arc, alright then! You don't mind if I fix this thing up a bit do you?" Jaune only nodded rapidly, especially because he felt Azure and Ruby glaring at him. "Actually, better idea! Kiddos, leave your kits here, me and my crew will give 'em a look over and do any tuning that may need to be done. I trust plenty of you know how to do maintenance on your own, but, consider it a treat from me to welcome you lot to Beacon!" Coal heartily laughed again, the students starting to murmur amongst themselves. Glynda adjusted her glasses with her riding crop.

"Mr. Flameheart, are you sure? There's plenty more students coming, and that would be a _lot_ of weapons." Glynda said, the large man chuckling as he set Jaune's weapon down.

"Oh it won't be much. I don't doubt these kids have taken good care of their tools. I'm just a bit extra curious to see the line-up this year. Weapons just keep getting more complex I swear. And besides, they need to drop their things off in the lockers anyway right? They're only the hall over."

"Good point." Glynda nodded as she pulled out her scroll, flicking it a few times. "Alright then students, if you want Mr. Flameheart to look your weapon over before tomorrow, then you are free to leave it here. If not, then you can place it in your locker once I show you which one will be yours."

"Sounds about good to me." Azure said, plucking his weapons off of his belt, glancing at Ruby as she held Crescent Rose close to her chest. "What, don't trust the teach?"

"The only one allowed to touch my baby is me." Ruby said, firmly planting her foot, Azure chuckling as he slung his holstered gunblade over a shoulder, other students either following Glynda out while others, like Argent and Rowan, had elected to place their weapons on the work table. "That's final!"

"Don't be _too_ possessive of it now little sis." Yang said, Ruby sticking her tongue out at her elder sister.

"You're not taking Ember Celica off either!" Ruby said, Yang flicking her wrists to make the yellow bracelets extend into full out gauntlets.

"Cause I _know_ my puppies are well and good." Yang smirked, another flick of her arms making the gauntlets close back down to bracelets before she then walked off too, Ruby trotting off after her sister.

"How do you live with those two huh?" Azure looked to Cin as the faunus pulled his pistols out, along with the secondary ones, holding their folded forms two to a hand.

"You get used to it." Cin remarked, putting his stuff next to Azure's as the silver-eyed young man set his weapons next to Argent's and Rowans. "Four years is plenty of time to get used to people."

"Was being rhetorical, but I'm sure you knew that."

"Answering rhetoricals is one of my _favorite_ forms of snark."

"Hah!" Azure went from amused looking to confused as Cin, _again,_ suddenly puffed up and his ears went rigid, the blonde young man quickly turning in the other direction of what he'd apparently seen. Azure turned in said direction, raising a brow again when he saw that black haired girl he and Ruby had met at the landing zone at the cliffside, said girl setting down a sheathed weapon before wordlessly walking off. "Okay completely random thing but uh, Cin, do you by _any_ chance know that girl?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about nor of whom, let's just go and meet up with the guys." Cin grumbled, Azure shrugging.

" _That just adds more questions honestly. But, I won't press him about it."_ Azure thought, glancing back at his weapons, particularly the sword and shield… the weapons he _hadn't_ built himself as far as his knowledge extended. He'd had those when his sense of self came back to him… they were the only physical connection he personally had to that gap in his memory. _"Though I've got way too many of my own questions to deal with anyway."_

* * *

The tour had now ended for the first year students, and now free to do whatever they wanted to, first thing was first: Eat. The dining hall building was now full of the first year crowd, groups having split off to start conversations over the surprisingly well set out food the place had in store for them. All in all the mood was merry… though at a certain table, a particular dark haired heir was scanning over his scroll and had a lot less of a pleasant expression on.

Azure's brow was furrowed and his eyes were downright boring into the screen as he read over the page that was open on it.

"What'ya looking at? If you were glaring any harder I'd think you'd break it." Argent said, leaning over to see what Azure was going through. "… seriously what is it? You're so far down there's no title."

"It's the information about the initiation test tomorrow." Azure curtly said, leaning on his left hand and setting his scroll down. "I decided to look at it earlier since I'd rather _not_ be blind sided by it tomorrow."

"Oh oh! What's on it then? Tell us tell us!" Ruby said, leaning forward on the table, Jaune and Cin leaning in too. Rowan did but due to his size, it was less leaning in and more like towering over the others to see.

"Ugh, fine." Azure brought his scroll up again, flicking it to the top of the page. "I'll just summarize it to keep it brief: The test is going to be in the Emerald Forest, which I will note Beacon owns a good chunk of the land in that area as private property exactly for these kinds of tests. We'll all be sent into the woods in a large group of around 16 students per test time during the course of the day… other than that this doesn't say anything about how teams will form, or what the actual goal _of_ the test is. I'm sure Professor Ozpin wants to keep that secret for when the test begins."

"I guess so that nobody can make early plans right?" Rowan said, Azure shrugging. "Doesn't the Emerald Forest also have a bunch of old ruins in it from the Pre-War era? Ones that were made to keep Grimm away, right?"

"Should be the case." Cin remarked. "Which probably means there won't be a lot of Grimm in the woods if at all. We'll be contending with typical wild animals rather than Grimm, most likely."

"What!? Come on man, we're here to learn to fight Grimm, not some dumb wild pigs and other stuff! Besides we hunted Grimm plenty of times back at Signal, and Signal's training hunts were on freaking _Patch,_ where there's hardly any Grimm to speak of!" Argent said, also noticing Jaune was looking at him funny. "What?"

"You've actually hunted Grimm before?" Jaune said, and _yet again_ he was looked at like he'd just preached blasphemy, though this time by several people and some who'd been close enough to hear him. "Did I… say something wrong?"

"Uh… of _course_ we've hunted Grimm before." Argent said.

"It's actually pretty common at Signal." Rowan said. "The areas near Vale tend to be pretty safe, and us upperclassmen at Signal are free to take on tougher contracts. Ruby here _was_ a second year but she got bumped up for… actually why _did_ you get in early?"

"Wait you're younger than us?!" Jaune yelped, Ruby nodding. "I didn't… well I mean I didn't _think_ you were younger… I thought you… actually I'll just stop talking."

"Ehehe, yeah it's kinda awkward. Two years ahead of the curve. But, I mean, it's like nothing special. I think I'm like only as good as most everyone else here." Ruby quickly waved her arms a bit, Jaune going wide eyed. "I just had a really good teacher is all! My uncle is a professional Huntsman who's been at it for years, and he taught me pretty directly how to use Crescent Rose."

"That is… just… wow. I have nothing to say." Jaune muttered, hanging his head. "And here I am having gotten put on the spot by a teacher cause of my weapon."

"He wasn't doing it to be a jerk. Just pointing out that it needed to be taken care of." Azure said, Jaune leaning on his elbows.

"But in front of an entire group?!"

"Welcome to Beacon." Azure said, giving a shrug. "Also why did you gravitate over here Jaune?"

"I don't know anybody else." Jaune muttered, knowing hums going across the others. "So uh… who're you're other friends?"

"Su-up! Name's Argent, 4th of Signal's top runners! Azure was first!" Argent said, throwing an arm up. "Nice ta' meet you Jaune. Hope we can get along just fine."

"Yeah, uh, me too. Nice to meet a friendly person here." Jaune said, glancing over at Rowan, who then noticed the other young man's look.

"Rowan Vermeil, pleasure." Rowan said, Jaune humming. "What?"

"I uh… thought you'd have a deeper voice. Considering you're, well, so tall. No offense." Jaune said, Rowan laughing.

"I get that kind of often." Rowan remarked. "But, don't worry, it's not a problem. Anyway, I hope things go well for you during the test tomorrow… well, all of us actually, I don't think there'll be a lot of problems."

 _BAM!_ "It just hit me!" Argent suddenly slammed the table then, cutting attention back to him. "Since Ruby is here that means we can carry back on with the H&H campaign! It can be revived with something new! Hahaha, Terranus will live on!"

"Oh no he's doing it again." Cin grumbled, his cat ears going flat as Argent cackled, Jaune then looking at him. "Name's Cin Branwen."

"He's my cousin." Ruby said, Jaune looking between Ruby and Cin with a surprised look. "Adopted cousin. Uncle Qrow took him in four years ago."

"It's a complex case." Cin said, rolling a shoulder.

"Ah." Jaune said, then glancing around. "Didn't I also hear you had a sister?"

"Oh, that's be Yang." Ruby said, looking off to another part of the cafeteria. "She's uh… over there. Her friends are kind of the rowdy types."

On cue to it, all the attention from the boys at the table shifted, turning to see Yang with a group of other teens, all laughing and being rowdy at their table, generally somehow being some of the loudest people in the cafeteria. Ruby and Cin both sighed heavily as they turned, particularly as Yang leapt up on the seat.

"That's uh… something." Jaune said.

"She's a thrill seeker." Cin and Ruby said in tandem, Jaune sucking in a breath.

"Hehe… I guess I can sympathize. I'm the only boy in my family and have a bunch of sisters. My childhood was weird." Jaune said. "Uh, what about the rest of you? Any kind of weird family situation? I mean, I know Azure's an Aquarion so that sort of explains itself."

"Only child." Rowan said, though one could see a sudden tensing up in his arms, the slender muscles going taught enough to be clearly defined for a moment. "It's just kinda just me and my dad, and since he's a Huntsman I sorta had to take care of myself a lot. But, it's not bad… I actually wonder what he's up to now. I think he said he was in Mistral…"

"I've got a bunch of siblings of the adopted kind. For reasons. That is all." Argent said, being surprisingly terse with that statement, earning him surprised looks from the ones who knew him well enough. "Look it's not a big problem aight? All that matters right here in this exact moment is that we're at-holy shit is that Pyrrha Nikos?!"

Argent was stopped by Rowan from shooting up, eyes following Argent's to see what got him to shout. A girl with vibrant red hair and green eyes, waring gear made up of brown-reds and bronze, styled after something like one would see from a historical bit but modernized. She passed by without really giving many looks to everybody, and the crowd was moving aside like a parting sea as she did. There was this immediate aura of power about the girl, a presence in the air that everyone could feel.

"Holt shit it is." Cin hummed, Jaune tilting his head.

"Who is she?" Jaune asked, and now _Ruby_ slammed her hands on the table.

"You don't know who she is?! That's Pyrrha Nikos, from Mistral! She's from the Olympus region, and she's won tons of tournaments, as well as having been the top student at Sanctum! She's a full on prodigy!" Ruby said, then giving a giddy chuckle. "And her weapons are so cool! The shield is pretty much just that, but her main weapon is a short sword, a spear, _and_ a rifle! Three in one! But the shield is just as good a melee weapon too! I've watched some of her fights, she's awesome!"

"Uh… what?" Jaune muttered.

"She got put onto a box of Pumpkin Pete's cereal one time." Azure deadpanned, Jaune showing a light bulb had gone off in his head.

"Ohhhhh! That was her?! They only do that for athletes and cartoon characters!" Jaune said, Argent blinking rapidly, still looking utterly shocked.

"Dude where are you _from?!_ Anyone who's been to a combat school knows who Pyrrha is!" Argent said, Jaune chuckling as he scratched the back of his head.

"Uh, just a small city a bit down the coastline." Jaune murmured, Argent humming, and Jaune yelped when Azure was looking at him again. It _still_ felt like those bright silver eyes just bored right through him. It was definitely kind of on the unnerving side with they way they sharply slanted upwards. Jaune quickly was able to compare it to Ruby, considering she and Azure had the very same eye color. But where Azure's were sharp and gave the feeling he was looking right through you, Ruby's looked softer and friendlier… Jaune then questioned why it is he was noticing this detail. "I mean, it happens, I guess."

"Man you have _got_ to be educated!" Argent said, then sighing. "But man that's like three famous people at Beacon now! We got the Aquarion heir, a Schnee, and now Pyrrha Nikos! What's next huh?!"

"Let's just, see how it goes from here." Rowan said, tapping Argent on the shoulder, the silver haired boy grumbling as he put a hand to his chin. "But hey, tomorrow's gonna be fun yeah? Teams, a test in the woods, what's not to ask?"

"Uhhh… don't remind me about the team things." Ruby muttered, shuddering over. "I hope it's easy so I can end up on a team with Yang."

"Who knows how it's gonna be. Ozpin is a mysterious man." Azure said, then turning around, looking out of the window of the dining hall and up at Beacon Tower as it stretched high into the sky. _"Myterious is definitely the word I would use. Just what does he know, and how much_ of this _that he's not telling me is more important than we can tell?... geez that's way too much to think about."_

* * *

 **A/N**

 **FINALLY! Took me ages to get back onto this one like I'd been wanting too, but I should be able to get rolling hard once I get into the initiation, hehe! Plan to have fun changing things up THERE for fun… same result different destination kinda thing… that's gonna be a lot of things actually. I'm definitely back in gear, let's go!**


	8. Chapter 8

ARCA

 **Chapter 8: Take a Leap**

The Beacon Ballroom was, fittingly, quite the large space. Enough that without any major fixtures in it you could rather easily shove all the first year students into it with room to spare, considering that aside from the floor you also had them packed up into the upper balconies along with it. Like after the tour, most of the students had elected to sequester off into their already present friend groups, chatting away before turning in and all that.

Azure was one of the students who'd chosen to stow away in the upper area of the ballroom. Propped up on his knees was a drawing pad, his pencil scratching across the thick paper as he sketched across it. A click of his tongue followed to Azure erasing a few things before getting back to it.

"… that wouldn't be right, it needs to be something that-but if I want to actually exhume the Dust… some kind of exhaust system? Yeah that could work. I would need to change the hilt so I could-a crank system then… also levels, need to actually control the output… make the exhausts hold the charge in?... then I'd need some kind of release system…"

"Whach-ya doin?"

"GYAGH!"

Azure yelped as Argent decided to just drop down next to him, his sketchbook flying out of his hands for a few moments, Azure managing to deftly grab it and make sure nothing was crumbled, Argent catching the pencil as it flew right for him.

"Don't surprise me." Azure muttered, a flicker of white coming off of his right eye, Argent humming as he looked over to see what was on the sketchpad as Azure checked it over.

"You're already planning for modifications to that other sword of yours?" Argent said, Azure nodding as he took his pencil back and made a few other notes on the paper. "Why? I mean I get upgrades with new components and custom parts, everybody does that. But this is like, a complete overhaul!" Argent leaned in more when Azure turned the page over, his brow raising when he saw what was drawn _there._ It wasn't some fancy changing weapon, just a revolver… a _big_ revolver going by the noted down scale. "And what is _that_ for?"

"Overture is good for anti-human combat when at a range. 30 Dust rounds sprayed around an area also makes for good cover… but because of the fact they're just pistol caliber rounds they don't have a lot of stopping power. I need something with more… oomf for dealing with Grim, y'know?" Azure spun the pencil between his fingers as he looked at the diagram, Argent shrugging as he started fiddling with his Scroll. "Since sometimes it's not like you have much of a better choice than the somehow get through a Grimm's carapace."

"Yeah but I mean don't you have that uber fancy Aquarion brand Semblance going for ya? I've seen you do just fine with your swords."

"That's not the point. I need a ranged weapon that can manage larger Grimm just as well. So something like _this_ is my go to choice." Azure tapped the pencil to the sketchbook and then shut it, a soft but audible _clap_ sounding as the papers smacked together. "I mean hey, even your guns use high-caliber bullets."

"Yeah but I mean that's what the Fair Strife is all about! Hitting things hard and smashin' 'em into the ground!" Argent threw his fists around a bit as he chuckled, Azure nodding along. "Plus it's separated form since hey, I gotta have some wiggle room for the smaller types."

"You don't always gotta rely on smashing through." As if _just_ to freak them out, Cin came right out of the shadow of the wall, poking his head out before stepping out and sitting down. Azure and Argent, thankfully _used_ to the shenanigans that Cin pulled with his Semblance… not so much for the people around them who nearly jumped at the Faunus boy suddenly appearing seemingly from the wall itself. "Or just use a tough enough alloy. My blades use material that keeps them sharp enough."

"Cin, please don't just pop out of shadows like that." Azure muttered, the Faunus's cat ears twitching at the remark as he looked to the side. "Why are you even hiding anyway?"

"Reasons."

"Is it that black haired girl?"

"I don't know what you mean." Cin, however, couldn't hide the fact his ears had flattened. He could like through his teeth but his animal traits spoke plenty for him. Azure and Argent just have him flat looks, Cin growling as he sunk down a bit. "Look it doesn't matter! We should focus more on what's gonna be going on tomorrow."

"I mean it's not like the iteni-whatever has a ton of info." Argent remarked, fiddling with his necklace of Grimm fangs. "All we know is we're getting chucked into the forest and going from there. Now what's this about some black haired girl?"

"Somebody who hints are suggesting Cin knows." Azure remarked, Cin hissing at him. "What else kind of conclusion am I supposed to come to?"

"Look, don't worry about it, alright?" Cin grumbled, shooting Azure a "watching you" gesture as he melded back into the shadows. Azure and Argent looked over to see that he reappeared on the floor below, again aiming his fingers at them before he went to where his own things had been lain near where Ruby and Yang were chatting.

"Y'know if it wasn't for his cat ears, I'd totally believe that Cin and Yang could be blood-related." Argent quipped, Azure shrugging. "Hey Azure you have any siblings?"

"One. A little sister. But she was born after I was… y'know. I only know about her because Qrow told me. Other than that, I don't know a thing about her."

"Oh… sorry."

"You don't need to apologize for anything. Now c'mon, let's sleep. Tomorrow's gonna be busy."

"Sounds good man!"

* * *

That following morning, the locker room was abuzz with chatter from the students in the morning. A large screen was there to display various things, and from what they knew it would show the results from the coming initiation test for other students. The main thing the students knew about the up and coming initiation was that they were all split off into groups of twelve, all of them taking their test in different sections of the Emerald Forest, the region that dominated the plateaus and valleys behind Beacon Academy, a property which the academy had exclusive rights and usage too.

The monitor currently only displayed a map of the forest, showing which sections of the forest each lettered group would be taking their test in. And while some were scanning the map since they knew their testing group, others were looking over their weapons to make sure they were well and prepped. As most of the first years had left their weapons for Coal and his crew to work on, a lot of them were also looking over the notes that had been made about their kits as well.

"You get anything said about your stuff Azure?" Rowan was fitting his own weapons onto his arms and legs as he glanced at Azure, who was scanning the paper that had been hooked to the Overture, which was back in it's holster at the back of his waist. Rowan for one didn't get much said about his gear, simply that they cleaned out the mechanics and improved the deployment time by about half a second. A thing Rowan quickly tested with a flick of his wrists, causing the wristlets to expand into their gauntlet form, and then following that with a quick tap of his fingers to two nodes on his gloves, which caused them to shift into their tonfa form, the handles flipping out from the lower arm base as the rest of the metal shifted to form the blades of the weapons as they shot out to their two-and-a-half foot length.

"Not much. Just some comments from the guy who worked on it about being impressed with the alloys I used and that it's good I take care of them." Though Azure was looking at the Requiem, the folded sword still separated from also folded shield in the locker. He shook his head and grabbed both, setting the sword into the shield then latching it to the hooks just over Overture's holster.

"Well that's good." Rowan set his weapons back to their bangle form, shaking his forearms while Azure shut his locker, a resounding _bang_ sounding from how hard he did so. And with the buzz that was the entire locker room at the time, there were plenty of conversations going on while others left to get prepared for the coming trial before them.

Such as with Argent and Cin, the former checking all his blades over one more time before setting them into the holster array. Which as usual, Cin was eyeing with a small bit of confusion since he simply had waist mounted holsters under his duster.

"Is that kind of set up really necessary?" Cin asked, Argent nodding as he finished placing everything where it should be. "Seems impractical."

"I make it work perfectly fine." Argent said, raising a brow when Cin then peeked out past the locker and looked around. "Dude you've been acting all paranoid since yesterday, the heck is up?"

"Like I said before, it's nothing." Cin muttered, turning on his heel and walking off as he shut his locker, Argent just sighing and following after. While the trot was rather quick, Cin was stopped dead when his collar was grabbed out of nowhere, the Faunus boy letting out a _very_ cat like yelp as Yang yanked him over to where she and Ruby were. "OW! Don't pull that hard Yang!"

"I need your help!" Yang hissed, Cin raising a brow, looking at Ruby, who was pulling her scythe out of her locker. "Just play it cool cous, alright?"

"Fine." Cin muttered, Yang clearing her throat.

"So, you seem rather chipper this morning!" Yang said, directed towards Ruby, who chuckled as she made a few checks on her weapon. As Argent decided to hang back and watch the ensuing scene, so to were Azure and Rowan.

"Yep! No more awkward small talk or getting to know you stuff. Today I get to let my sweetheart do the talking!" And Ruby about purred as she nuzzled her weapon like it was a dear pet. Cute as it was seeing the small girl do that, the onlookers who called themselves her actual friends seemed a bit… concerned.

"Well remember Ruby, you're not the only one going through initiation." Yang said. "If you wanna grow up you're going to have to, y'know, meet new people and learn to work together."

"Debatable." Cin sniped, Yang whacking his arm. "Ahem. She has a point about it though. Working with other people _is_ kind of part of the job. Flying it solo isn't-Yang you're making me sound like a hypocrite."

"Quiet." Yang hissed, tapping where she'd already hit Cin, to which he bat her hand away.

"Uggghh you two sound like dad!" Ruby grumbled, shoving her weapon back into her locker. "Okay first of all, what does meeting people have to do with fighting? And secondly, I don't need people to help me grow up. I drink milk!"

Cin promptly slammed a hand to his face at Ruby's flagrant missing of the point, Yang giving a worried mumble.

"What about when we form teams?" Yang put forward, Ruby awkwardly turning away.

"I dunno. I'll just… be on your guys' team, or something." Ruby said, Cin sighing again.

"Ruby there's one, no guarantee Yang or I are gonna be on the same team, and two, maaaaybe it'd be for the best if we uh… y'know, were on different teams." Cin said, Yang nodding along.

"My dearest sister Yang and best cousin Cin, are you two implying that you don't wish to be on the same team as me?!" Ruby said.

"Yes." Cin bluntly replied. Yang was a bit more awkward about it.

"What, no, of course I do!" Yang also smacked Cin again for how horribly blunt he was. "But, I dunno, maybe it would help you break out of your shell."

"What?! I don't need to break out of my shell, that's absolutely-"

"Ridiculous!" Conveniently as he passed by while talking aloud, Jaune wound up finishing Ruby's sentence… despite being absorbed in trying to find the locker his gear was supposed to be in. "It can't be in locker 636! I wouldn't have needed to count that high! Where is it?! Ugh, why does this have to happen today?!"

"I feel really sorry for him." Azure said, now leaning against another part of the room.

"I'll go help him find the locker." Rowan trotted off as Azure nodded. The heir's attention then turned as he scanned. There were certainly some sequestered groups off and around, but what caught his eye was seeing Weiss standing near Pyrrha. Azure at least knew thanks to everybody else Pyrrha was quite the big deal, so he decided to edge over to try and listen into their conversation, whatever it was.

"So, Pyrrha, have you given any thought to who's team you would like to be on? I'm sure everyone must be eager to team up with a such, well known individual like yourself." Weiss asked the obvious question. Since nobody knew just how teams were going to be formed until they actually got to just before the initiation test, everybody was wondering just how it would happen, or in some ways hoping to influence things to hopefully get with a person they felt they could work well with.

"I'm not quite sure. I was thinking of letting the chips fall where they may." Pyrrha replied, Azure giving a bit of a hum about the honesty to that answer. He got the immediate impression Pyrrha was quite the humble type despite her prowess as a fighter. He'd done a bit of research on her during the night, and she had quite the nickname attributed to her: The Invincible Girl. Quite the name to be given, but one not without merit. Pyrrha hadn't lost a single official fight she'd ever been in, all without taking a single blow.

Granted being the skeptical type Azure wondered just _how_ that could be. Perhaps it had to do with her Semblance in some way. The problem was nobody _knew_ what Pyrrha's Semblance was, there wasn't a lick of information about it. So, either she just never used it, or it was such a subtle thing nobody could know when she _was_ using it.

"Well, I was thinking perhaps, we could be on a team together." Weiss proposed, Azure tilting his head as he hummed. He couldn't shake the feeling there were other plans in store when it came to the team set ups. Perhaps it wouldn't be as random as some people were thinking it to be. Pyrrha's positive reply to it made Azure peer over, and go to a stilted look as he saw Weiss turn away and clearly into some mental stewing of the comedically scheming variety.

" _She really has changed since we were kids."_ Azure mentally noted, giving a sigh. And he sighed _yet again_ when Jaune decided to show up. He already knew were this was going.

"You know what else is great? Me, Jaune Arc. Nice to meet ya'." Jaune slid in right between Pyrrha and Weiss, trying his best to come off as smooth and cool. Weiss was clearly not impressed at all. IN fact she seemed quite annoyed at the young man's presence.

"You again?" Weiss bit, though the much more welcoming Pyrrha seemed all too happy to be meeting a new person.

"Nice to meet you Jaune." Pyrrha said, Jaune nodding, but still immediately near brushing her off to keep talking to Weiss.

"Yeah yeah. So, Weiss, I couldn't help but overhear your fondness of me yesterday." Azure felt he'd missed something but Weiss palm-to-face reaction said that whatever spurred this had clearly been disingenuous. So before it could get any further, Azure decided to step out and place a firm hand on Jaune's shoulder.

"Jaune, buddy, pal, let's not go to far with this." Azure said, Jaune looking at him with a raised brow. "Just for your sake more than anyone else's."

"What, come on! We've gotta form teams, right?" Jaune said.

"Actually, the little information we _do_ have says that teams are comprised of four students each. Sadly we don't know _how_ they'll be formed." Pyrrha said, Azure nodding. Jaune also promptly escaped from Azure's grip.

"You don't say. Well hot stuff, play your cards right and maybe you could end up with the winning team." Jaune got a hand on the shoulder from Azure again, and Weiss shot between Jaune and Pyrrha as well.

"Jaune, do I need to remind you who this is?" Azure said, Jaune tilting his ehad. "We told you yesterday after Argent had his little bit. Think about it for a second."

And a light bulb did indeed seem to go off in Jaune's brain once he did think about it. Heck it downright appeared right above his head. Thankfully enough for Azure as he gave a relieved sigh.

"Ohhhh! You're that Pyrrha Nikos girl! Some… what was it athlete?" Jaune said, Weiss sighing.

"She graduated top of her class at Sanctum Academy in Mistral, and won the Mistral Regional Tournament four years in a row, which is a new record by the way!" Weiss rattled off.

"Right right, that stuff." Jaune commented.

"Good, you remembered." Azure said.

"I suddenly feel insulted."

"You should." Azure pat Jaune on the shoulder as the other boy sank a bit, and Weiss's expression said she parroted the thought, only with more animosity.

"So, after hearing all of that, are you really sure you're in a position to ask someone like her to be on your team?" Weiss said, Azure giving a hum.

"I mean you never know Weiss. Sometimes the most unlikely pair can produce the best results." Azure said, tapping Jaune on the shoulder in a more encouraging manner this time.

"I agree. And besides, I think you'd make a great leader, Jaune." Pyrrha said. Perhaps she was the kind of person who could see when somebody had potential to them. At least the idea of praise from someone like Pyrrha made Jaune go from seemingly depressed to beaming.

"Oh stop it!" Jaune said, Azure then smacking his shoulder again. "Cooling down."

"Thank you." Azure murmured, then looking around. "Also where the heck did Rowan get off to? He was helping you find the locker your stuff was in right?"

"Right here!" Rowan popped up from another row of lockers, waving a hand to show here he was, Azure nodding. "Also, Jaune, found the locker, so we're good when you are!"

"Ah! Gotta get that! Thanks man!" Jaune then dashed off with that. Azure sighed again as he was glad a potentially bad situation had been avoided, somewhat, at the least. And then the speakers went off, getting _everybody's_ attention all at once as Glynda's voice came from it.

" _Will all Beacon first years please report to the Beacon Cliff for initiation. Again, all first year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately. And please be sure to get into your assigned groups. The first group up for testing today will be Group A."_

"Huh, that's the group I'm in." Azure commented.

"So am I." Weiss murmured.

"Same." Pyrrha noted. "Seems quite the coincidence doesn't it? Well, I'll be seeing you all during the test, farewell!"

Azure nodded as Pyrrha and Weiss left, the latter in a bit of a huff, of course. He decided to go over and find Rowan and Jaune, and found them with Cin, Argent, Ruby, and Yang as Jaune was looking over his stuff.

"What's with the gathering huh? We all going at the same time or what?" Azure asked.

"Turns out we're all in the same group!" Ruby cheered, throwing her arms up. Yang gave an awkward chuckle while Cin just rolled his eyes in amusement. "So hey, why not all head off at the same time yeah?"

"Hey, it only makes sense." Argent said, giving a chuckle. "So, Jaune, how'd the big teacher man touch up your stuff eh?"

"Well… the shield doesn't feel all stiff now." Jaune hummed as he was made the shield portion of his weapon fold and unfold with quite the degree of ease, the item smoothly transitioning without issues. "And the sword is nice and sharp too. Though I guess they couldn't do more in a single night."

"Well glad to know it's in good condition now." Rowan said, Jaune nodding, and he then experienced for himself the sudden lurching brought om by Rowan's ever hearty smacks to the back. Thankfully for Jaune, Rowan hit his cuirass… not that it stopped him from lurching forward.

"Alright then, let's get going." Azure said, everybody else nodding as they set off to leave.

* * *

The Beacon Cliff was, simply put, the area directly behind the Academy a bit of a ways off that led to the Emerald Forest below. The location was true to it's name, sprawling woods filled with emerald green trees in full springtime bloom. And fitting to the age of the location many of the trees stood tall and massive, dominating the heights of the valley they were set in. Spread here and there as well, were the towering remains of old ruin from the pre-war era, the over eighty years of disrepair causing most to be in crumbling states.

Off in the distance as well, one could also see the rail line that stretched past the valley and to the nearby town of Emerald Valley, a quaint little place that was also home to one of Vale's main military bases, and helped oversee the forest for initiation tests such as this. So, it was also likely the soldiers there were helping oversee things to assure the safety of the students in the event the situation got to dire for them to handle.

But with the fact the forest was also relatively light in Grimm presence, so too was any potential assisting presence just _as_ light. Granted the students were also expected to manage this on their own so things would have to get _really_ bad for any intervention to occur, this _was_ their final exam to _really_ become Beacon students and proper Huntsman/Huntress trainees.

As for the students, the first group of twelve found themselves situated at the side of the valley probably the _furthest_ away from Emerald Valley, but also the closest area to Beacon as a whole. The group, Group A, consisted of an almost suspiciously picked group. Azure, Rowan, Cin, Argent, Ruby, Yang, Weiss, the black-haired girl who Cin may or may not know, Jaune, Prryha, a boy in green and girl in white and pink who was still merrily chattering the other boy's ear off. While anyone had yet to meet them properly, the boy and girl were named Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie. There were four others of currently much less importance, but the entire group set up seemed awfully convenient in how it was all arranged.

And perhaps in a stroke of luck or misfortune, the one delivering the spiel to them all was Ozpin himself, overlooking the group of twelve with Glynda just behind him.

"For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." Ozpin continued his analysis of the students as he spoke, making notes of their stances as they waited, their weapons, and even the small quirks one could catch. It was almost like he was already deciding who would be best set up as a team with each other from the get go.

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates. Today." Glynda spoke the news that had been on _everyone's_ minds since showing up. The chattering started up again, and while some seemed to be only affirmed from the bits they knew, you had people like Ruby who looked more and more unsettled with each passing statement.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So, it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work with well." Ozpin continued, Azure feeling the man's gaze linger on him for a moment, as if singling him out. Though it also seemed Ozpin did the same for other students, notably glancing at Ruby and Pyrrha as well. Perhaps he was reading into the potential brightest talents of the lot. "That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will your partner for the next four years."

And it was about there where Ruby went from simply unnerved to shocked, like glass had shattered in her mind.

"What?!" Ruby shouted, clearly worried for her own safety now.

"So there's some luck put into all of this as well huh?" Azure noted. "Whoever you end up near after we go in is who you have a higher chance of being partnered with."

"But then what about after that? If we have pairs forming in the forest, then is there some way to decide which pairs will form a full team?" Rowan asked, a hand to his chin. "Maybe something during the test?"

"Let's just keep listening." Cin said, pulling his hood up to the point it was shadowing his face yet again. His eyes kept darting to that one girl, while by this point Ruby and Yang had learned was named Blake, though not her surname so far. They'd found that out during the previous night. Cin had conveniently left as soon as they turned their attention to her at that point.

"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest." Ozpin continued with the instructions, gesturing out to the wooded canyon below, "You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die."

"Well ain't _that_ to the point." Azure muttered.

"Least he's honest." Rowan hummed, Azure simply sighing. Argent was about ready to explode from excitement by this point.

"You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene unless the situation turns dire enough. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path, containing several relics. Each pair must choose one, and return to the top of the cliff. You will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. And while you are divided into groups, you all have the same general goal as one another. Do not hesitate to assist your fellow students if you cross paths with each other, as you all have the same goal. Are there any questions?" Ozpin concluded the speech, a moment of silence following where only one hand was raised, but… "Good. Now, take your positions." The headmaster cut off any chance there was all too curtly.

Without much more being said to it, every student in line took a ready stance and drew their weapons. As it was, every student was standing on top of a small platform marked in Beacon's insignia. Anybody who knew enough had guessed their purpose the second they got here, so were all ready and braced for what was coming.

At least if they weren't the very obviously concerned with everything that was happening Jaune.

"Uh sir, I've got a, um, question." Jaune said, and the furthest student in the line was then launched off into the forest via their platform catapulting them into the air. Jaune shuddered as the process kept up. "So this… landing strategy thing, what is it? Your um, like, dropping us off or something?"

"No. You will be falling." Ozpin replied, Jaune nervously laughing.

"Just aim for one of the towers." Azure said, tapping Jaune on the arm. "If you don't have a way to slow your fall, aim for something high and then head down… or get lucky and hit the canopies. I hear the trees here are pretty thick. You should be fine."

"Azure that doesn't help!" Jaune was only getting more and more nervous as the line got smaller and smaller. Cin launched without a word to him, Argent giving a loud whoop as he went off, Yang doing the same while also placing a pair of shades on. Rowan waved as he fired off too, Ruby following suit a few moments later. Azure gave a small salute with his sword as he was launched. Jaune was left panicking up until the moment he was also fired off into the crowd, though without a lick of grace to it and flailing about wildly.

And Ozpin just sipped from his mug as he turned and watched the students descend. Glynda was also immediately getting to doing things with her opened tablet, Ozpin glancing at the teacher.

"Are things well and set up?" Opzin asked, Glynda nodding.

"We'll start arranging things as soon as they land." Glynda also gave a hum as she looked it over. "Seems the Grimm presence is a bit higher then normal as well… well, it should be fine, not like any overly dangerous types tend to appear here. With luck perhaps they won't run into any at all."

"We'll just have to see how things play out from here." Ozpin remarked. "Fate can work in funny ways sometimes."


	9. Chapter 9

ARCA

 **Chapter 9: Emerald Forest**

Perhaps by some kind of luck or other force, Azure found himself as one of the first students to find a place to land. His fall had sent him barreling right towards one of the ruined towers. Thankfully the upper layer of the tower was quite open, so he had an easy point of entry to land on, heavy as his landing was. Azure ducked and rolling, coming to a stop once he hit the still standing wall of the top floor.

"Ow… good thing I turned my Aura on when we launched." Azure muttered to himself as he stood and dusted himself off. As he went to the opening of the floor, the other falling students were still visibly descending. Pulling up his goggles, a tap to their side turned them on. There was a bit of fuzz he corrected by whacking the frame. "Stupid prototype… I'll need to tweak the OS later I guess."

With the visor actively on, the HUD that came into frame, the various elements appearing in his vision being a gauge displaying his aura level, which had taken the _smallest_ of knocks thanks to his method of stopping, a small radar complete with compass for orientation, a side display showing his weapons and their current status on ammo with Overture, or Dust charge with Requiem. And as it started up, he also got immediate pings for other scrolls within range.

"Well looks like a few of 'em landed nearby. Hope the stairs are still in one piece!"

* * *

Cin's plan to stop his fall was quite simple. He had the aid of his hook pistols to make use of, so as soon as his descent brought him near the canopy line, he whipped one out and fired, the hook shooting into the branches and catching onto something. When his fall brought Cin down, the line snapped tight, and he swung it around, pulling himself back up and to land lightly on the upper part of the canopy, thick enough to serve as an easy platform to hold him.

"WHOOHAAAAA!"

Only for yelling from behind him to cause Cin to jump to the side, and unknown person careening past him and barreling right through the branches, yelping all the while before crashing into the forest floor below with a loud yell. Cin rolled his eyes as he moved and descended, loosing his hook as he touched down on the floor, a whir sounding as the line retracted into the gun.

And to no surprise of the Faunus, a familiar head of silver hair was peeking out from a nearby bush. Rolling his eyes again, Cin grabbed onto the bundle of hair and pulled, Argent popping out of the bush and onto his back, Cin leaning down over him as he tapped a foot.

"Were you trying to crash?"

"Not really. But it was fun!" Argent said, completely unaware of the twigs and leaves stuck in his mop, then a light bulb went off in his eyes. "Oh! We made eye contact! That means we're partners now!"

"That _is_ what Ozpin said." Cin helped Argent up, who gave a snicker as they then clapped their hands together and fist bumped in a friendly gesture. "I'm fine with it at least. Better than being paired with someone I don't know."

"Or that Blake girl you so obviously know?"

"Not talking about it."

"You will eventually."

"Who knows? Either way, let's get moving. The temple ruins are at the other side of the canyon, and from where we landed, we've got a way to go before getting there."

"Think we'll run into any big Grimm?"

"Not likely. The Emerald Forest is light even on smaller species, and the military base nearby makes sure bigger ones don't have much of a chance."

"Pff, that's no fun!"

"This is a test, remember? I doubt they'd throw us into a situation where we could actually get killed, despite what Ozpin said."

Though as they boys spoke while moving around, the sounds of fighting at other points in the forest, or at least people using their weapons in various ways for those of the more inventive mind, was already beginning to echo across the air. So far, all the two saw as they jogged along was more common woodland animals, bounding deer running from the loud noises, birds and squirrels, maybe a few more predatory animals like wolves, though they steered well and clear of the trainees.

But both doubted their trek would continue to be this easy the further they went into the forest.

* * *

And at around the time that Azure had made his way to the bottom of the tower, he decided his best option was to just head for the location of the old temple and meet someone along the way rather than waste time seeing if he'd find somebody near his location.

Thankfully Signal Academy was graceful enough to make sure it's students got to train in a variety of locations, much less with the fourth years and the fact they were allowed to take on actual Grimm hunts so long as they were of a permissible difficulty for them to undertake. Of course though the Emerald Forest was large, but navigating it proved of little difficulty for the nimble Azure.

He was able to swiftly make his way across the underbrush of the woods, occasionally using the tall trees as perches to move between when he elected to avoid any more territorial animals. He knew that the forest was generally populated by wolves for the majority of it's regions, with a few notable and large packs roaming it's land and preying on the likes of deer and other smaller animals. The rockier regions at the walls of the valley, where old mine shafts now often served as dens for the likes of bears, mountain lions, or the occasional Grimm pack if one was unlucky, were the territory of such described predators that would be far more dangerous to encounter.

Though Azure had this weird sensation when he stopped for a moment and decided to scout a bit from the top of the canopies. It couldn't have just been a weird visual illusion, but he could swear portions of the forest seemed to be _shifting_ for some reason. And not shifting as in the trees just being disturbed by the wind, but actually _moving._

He could have sworn he was heading straight north from the tower he'd landed at, yet his position was a bit further to the north west of it than he had actually thought he was headed, and he knew he wasn't lost.

"Could this be some trick Ozpin is pulling?" Azure pressed the side of his goggles as he turned to the source of a rising pillar of smoke, the image zooming in on it. Though he didn't pay much mind to it for long once the radar picked up a few dots. One a Scroll signature, and the other a moving object… which was moving towards his position _far_ too quickly. "What?"

 _CRASH!_

And next Azure knew the tree he was on was slammed into by _something_ from below, the screaming noise of wood splitting from impact along rushing up. Moving on direct instinct, Azure started moving down as the tree began to fall, drawing one of his swords and ramming it into the trunk as the angle became too steep to easily move on, the sharp blade of the weapon moving easily through the wood as Azure was carried down, the boy kicking off the tree and rolling to a stop at the glade below, pulling his other weapon out as his tracker showed something coming out of his blind spot, Azure turning and catching the claws of a Beowolf on his swords.

"Just my damn luck…" Azure groaned as he knocked his swords loose, switching Overture to its firearm form and firing at the Beowolf. Another groan came from Azure as while most of the shots from the rapid-fire weapon were able to hit the softer sections of the Grimm's body, its carapace was only dented in by any shots that had hit it. "And this is why I'm drafting up that other gun."

"On your six!"

Azure turned again as he was called out too, but before he could make a move himself, the Beowolf charging at him was slammed into the ground, a mechanical whine being followed by a blast of pure force as Rowan drove his gauntlet into the beat's skull region, blowing the Grimm's head clean away and sending the rest of the body flying off into the underbrush.

"Well damn. Never seen what those things actually do when you fire them off 'till now." Azure remarked, Rowan chuckling as his other gauntlet folded it's tonfa back into it. "Soooo… guess we're partners?"

"I guess so… also uh, you know which way the temple is? I got a bit turned around after I landed and well, I'm a _bit_ lost. It's like the forest is moving around or something."

"So I wasn't just seeing things." Azure put a hand on his chin as he hummed, then shaking his head. "Not that it matters. We're not that far from it. If you look from the canopies you can see it's spires from just about anywhere in this part of the gorge."

"Sweet. I got kinda caught up after I landed so I didn't have a bunch of time to scout around." Rowan put a hand behind his head as he admitted that, Azure sighing with an amused chuckle. "But let's get going!"

* * *

"Well now, that's about everybody for this group." Ozpin flicked a finger across his tablet to move aside the footage showing Azure and Rowan starting to head off. Aside from that was footage showing other pairs of students on the move who had all met up in the forest, such as Cin and Argent, Ruby and Weiss, and Yang and Blake.

"Do you think any of them noticed the shifting?" Glynda said, moving her finger away from a projected map of the forest on her own tablet, the map in segments that by the order of it, she had been shifting around the entire time. "Some of them would have been bound to notice it."

"If they did, it matters not. All of them have found their partners and are making their way to the temple, as it stands now that's fine." Opzin replied, Glynda giving a hum.

"True… but the Grimm presence is also bothering me. Vermeil and Aquarion along with Rose and Schnee both ran into Beowolf packs, which while not unusual, those numbers aren't normal for the Forest. Least of all the fact that Lie Ren ran into a King Taijutu of all things. Do you think the ruins' power is waning?"

"The structures are old, and little know of their warding capabilities. But, yes, it is likely the wards are falling, meaning Grimm are able to move into the Forest easier. I wouldn't worry too much though. If anything does go wrong, then assistance will come."

"Right. Let's just hope no Grimm that are too troublesome decide to make themselves known."

* * *

Azure and Rowan, perhaps as if fate had decided to play a practical joke on the boys, caused their path to come across the giant snake-like Grimm known as a King Taijutu. They'd at least made sure to keep to the trees as they traveled, but such a Grimm prowling around only meant trouble, it's large body leaving a gouge in the ground as it moved.

"What should we do?" Rowan said, Azure tilting his head as he weighed their options. "I don't think it's noticed us, and the second head's gotta be a bit behind… should we just keep moving?"

"We should try to let is pass." Azure replied, though he already had a hand on Overture just to be ready. "If we're lucky, maybe another animal will draw it's attention and let us pass."

"Uh… Azure?"

"The other head is right behind us. Isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"… goddammit."

Azure glanced back to see that now glaring down at him and Rowan, the large, white head that was the other end of the Taijutu was looking at the two with it's red eyes in a glare, it's hooked tongue flicking out at them.

"So… what do we do in this case?" Rowan looked the other way as the _other_ head turned around to look up at them, Azure grumbling as he drew his swords. "Split between them?"

"Yup."

"Fine by me!"

The two jumped from the large branch, Azure pulling Overture up in gun form and firing it on burst fire, the shots puncturing the softer scales of the white head's nose, black ooze spurting from the wounds as Azure spun to avoid the now angry lunge, stabbing Requiem into the head past a gap in the plating, pressing the switch and igniting the loaded Burn Dust catridge he'd had loaded ahead of time, raking the weapon out in a long slash as the Taijutu flailed about from the wound inflicted on it, "Tch, this thing is so big that wasn't nearly deep enough to finish this head off."

"Then allow me!" Rowan jumped down and slammed a foot into the roaring black head of the snake, a red pulse shooting out as the beast was smashed right into the ground with a sickening _crunch_ sounding as it's bone like armor broke from the force of the hit, Rowan leaping off and avoiding a snap of the creature's jaws that came his way. "Easy big guy!"

"Heads up, these heads share pain!" Azure slid down the back of the white head while also lashing it with his still burning blade, earning a wild hiss from the creature as he rolled off the ground, avoiding the attempted smash that led the creature to slam it's wounded nose into the ground. "So let's be fast about it!"

"Oh… well, you learn something new every day, right?" Rowan chuckled, Azure just letting out a sigh as the Taijutu rose up above them even more, both wounded heads hissing angrily and with their venom dripping from their fangs. "It's about to try and coil us ain't it?"

"Probably!"

And attempt to coil it did. The two heads began to circle around. Nodding to each other, Azure and Rowan waited until the coil was close in, both stepping up from the body and into the air as the coil closed. Then pressing their feet together, the boys used each other to launch themselves forward with the help of Rowan's greaves and Azure's semblance. They streaked forward towards their targets, Rowan's weapons in tonfa form as he sent the blades forward, and Azure's aura shimmering before Overture's deployed blade began shimmering with electricity.

The Taijutu moved to retaliate, it's heads lunging at the boys. Rowan's tonfa's met the fangs of the black head dead on, his powerful swings that followed the impact as he carried the momentum over cutting deeply through the black head's snout, then the other blade being driven through the dented in spot of the carapace. Azure nimbly managed to dodge in the air, his electrified blade cutting into the white head, causing it to screech as electricity ran through it, and Azure followed up by ramming his burning blade into the skull again, pushing further until he was almost driving the hilt into the weakened hide as well, a pull of the weapon's trigger causing the flames from it to burst into a gout that blasted from the Taijutu's lower jaw in a pulse of fire.

With final gurgles as they began to fall, both the heads went and collapsed into the ground, the boys pulling their weapons free and stepping away from the body, tapping their arms together as they watched the carcass begin to melt away until only the carapace and bones of the beast were left.

"Good thing we've worked together before huh Azure?" Rowan collapsed his weapons, Azure nodding as he went over to one of the skulls, then grabbing one of the smaller fangs. "Uh… aren't those poisonous?"

"Only when the thing is alive. After it's dead, Taijutu fangs go inert." Azure pried the fang he'd grabbed from the skulls, trotting back over as he rolled it over in his palm. "Figured it'd make a nice souvenir from today."

"Well Argent does have his fang necklace, and I've got these Nevermore feathers." Rowan flicked said feathers pinned in his hair as Azure started whittling off the point of the fang with a pocket knife. "Think we'll run into anything else like this?"

"Not if you jinx us." Rowan playfully flinched as he and Azure kept walking. "We won't have to worry about any normal predator animals either. Large Grimm being around usually drives them off, so our path to the temple from here _should,_ in theory, be relatively clear from this point on."

"But no plan ever survives running into the enemy." Rowan noted, Azure nodding again. "Well, I say we pick it up! It's just due north yeah?"

"Same as before. We stick to the trees and follow the spires."

"Alright, then take the lead!"

* * *

"Sooo… were you thinking we weren't going to have it easy too?"

"Yeup."

"But were you expecting two angry Pantherae?"

"I can't say I was."

Argent only let out a sound as he and Cin stood back to back while the two, thankfully not mature but still grown, Pantherae circled around them. The two figured all the chaos going on in the forest now would've agitated any local Grimm into coming out as the normal animals were getting agitated and running off. The thing was they _hadn't_ planned to run into a couple of Pantherae away from their hovel out hunting some of said startled animals, with the remains of a rather unlucky bear nearby. It wasn't like Grimm _needed_ to hunt animals to live, in fact all research suggested Grimm didn't really _need_ to eat to sustain themselves. It was just a thing they _did_ because they could, or maybe because the more animalistic types shared some of the instincts from their non-Grimm counterparts. Whatever the reason, the teens had come across the pair out on a hunt, and territorial creatures they were, the Pantherae were not happy to see them.

"Yet you don't seem nervous at all despite the situation." Cin remarked, Argent chuckling a bit as he adjusted his primary sword.

"Oh I'm a bit nervous for sure. I've taken on a grown one of these things a couple times. But ya see, the difference _there_ was that I had the advantage on the thing! In this case? Yeah, we need to be careful." Argent let out a breath, being thankful he'd spent so much time researching Grimm for this precise kind of situation. "Usual tactics from a pair is to stagger when they attack to try and make an opening. Luckily there's two of us."

"So basically, it's a game to see who attacks first." Cin said, adjusting one of his swords into its gun form. "I don't mind that kind of situation at all. Let's try and draw them near the shadows so I can use my Semblance. Your Semblance agitates Grimm somehow right? Think you can kite them over?"

"Sounds like a game plan. Hey, what even happens when you pull a Grimm into the shadows hmm?"

"I'm about to find out."

"That's not reassuring bro!"

Argent's yelping no doubt came across as an opening to the prowling Grimm. The one nearest Argent moved to strike, lunging at him with a loud roar. Argent swung back around, his sword clanging as it caught in the Grimm's jaws, though it probably wasn't expecting the blade to light up with silver fire, which promptly caused it to disengage and pull back as it yowled, the flames still flickering across it's jowls as it hissed.

Not one to pass a chance, Argent whipped out one of his short blades and flipped it into gun form, firing at the Grimm to make it back off. Cin was quick to attack himself before the other Panthera could make a move as it hung back, snaring one of it's legs with his hook pistol, keeping the line tight as it started flailing to try and get free, then letting it go slack and pulling it hard, the Grimm yelping as it was dragged forward and hit the dirt. Cin dashed forward and leapt, shooting at the creature as he fell, the weapon switching to blade form as the Panthera shook itself loose, the blade raking it's side as the created scrambled away as Cin also pulled the deployed line back in, swapping forms again and firing at the fleeing target to direct it along.

"How you gonna like this?!" Argent drove his sword into the ground, and as the flames along the blade rose up, he ripped the blade upwards, sending a wave of silver fire at the Panthera still keeping away from him, the creature diving to the side, getting closer to it's ally as Cin was now firing at them with both pistols, the muzzles flashing red as he'd loaded Burn Dust bullets into them.

But despite the pelting bullets and flames, the Grimm weren't that easily deterred. They split off towards the opposite teen they'd targeted before with quick moves. Cin shifted past the burning one, his dash taking him near the shadows of the three line, while Argent started locking blades onto his main once as he drew them out while countering the attacks from the other Panthera, catching it's claws when all he had left to attach to the formation was one of the side blades, sparks flying from the contact of claws and metal, Argent lighting the blades up again to force the Grimm to retreat as it yowled from the fire crawling up it's front limbs now.

"Oh don't try to run now!" Argent locked the remaining sword onto the blade, grabbing the completed sword with both hands as he dashed after the Grimm, the heavy blade slamming down onto the creature's carapace, and then right through the rest of the leg as the Panthera tried to slash at him. Argent smirked as the creature howled while black ooze spewed from the stump while it hit the ground. "Cin, we got one wounded!"

"Then finish it off, I've got this one!" Cin flipped back as the now even angrier Panthera before him lunged again, skidding back and leaning away from a follow up lunge, steadily moving towards the cast shadows, the still lit flames Argent had generated making said shadows bigger from the light they produced. And when he had his chance as the Grimm lunged at him again, Cin slipped back and seemingly fell right into the shadows near him, the Grimm landing and looking around in confusion as it totally lost his presence as a result.

Argent, meanwhile, moved quickly. His target may have been wounded but Grimm didn't give up easily after all. So even if the Panthera was missing a leg it was still determined to fight back, striking at Argent by swinging its hind legs around and biting at him. But that didn't keep Argent from striking back as fiercely, the weightier heft of his complete sword causing any clash to spike the impact through the Panthera when they clashed. And with a wild smirk showing, Argent gripped the blade with both hands, the flames focusing to the blade's spine and dricing it forward as they ignited like boosters, the swing that followed into colliding with the Panthera's jaw crashing right through it's fangs and carrying through as Argent swung hard, the Panthera flying past him as the blade passed through it, it's cut halves sailing through the air and slamming into the trees, Argent spinning to a stop as he kept moving forward, his blade carving a swirl in the dirt as he rammed it downwards.

As for why the other Panthera didn't try to help it's partner, it was caught up trying to pin Cin down as he kept popping in and out of it's vision within the shadows it had been dragged into by him. One moment he appeared to attack, the next he melted into the cast shadows when he was swiped at. Cin then reappeared up in the trees as his quarry kept swinging at air to try and pick him out, reloading his guns with magazines marked by white sigils, flipping them into sword form and clicking the triggers, causing a hum to go across the blades, a faint whining noise now in the air.

The Panthera was able to pick up on the noise, but by the time it had turned, Cin already jumped down. The blades collided with the Grimm's back carapace, and with their active vibrations, began carving through the bone-like structure as Cin carried the blades through, the Panthera getting out one more roar before it's head was severed from the twin strikes coming at it, Cin disengaging the swords as he flicked his arms.

"Hahaha, you wanna bet the teaches saw _that one?"_ Argent howled with laughter as Cin returned to the clearing, a wave of the boy's hand causing the flames he'd kicked up to die down. "That's gotta be some extra credit right there!"

"What matters more is that we get to the temple." Cin said, Argent shrugging as he placed his sword over his shoulders.

The two turned as they picked up on more sounds echoing from the valley, one source also coming with a plume of smoke rising into the air, while an echoing scream from somebody also followed through as well.

"Eesh, it's getting a bit hectic out there ain't it?" Argent commented, a click of a switch on his chest belt causing the sheathes at his back to rearrange into a single one he could place the completed sword into. "How far are we from that temple anyway?"

"Shouldn't be far now. The spires above the trees are getting a lot bigger." Cin commented, jumping up into the trees to see past the canopies, Argent joining him up there as he pulled up his own goggles, not to dissimilar to Azure's. "We're on the right track at least."

"Sweet! Wonder if anyone's gotten there already."

"Won't know until we're there. Let's keep moving."

"Roger that good buddy!"


End file.
